


A Wrong Turn

by chawk1993



Category: Batwoman (TV 2019), Stargirl (TV 2020), Supergirl (TV 2015), Superman & Lois (TV 2020), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Barbara Whitmore accepts everyone, Camney all the way!, Cisco is going to be pissed!, Dimension Travel, F/F, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, HourNite, Injustice Society of America, Is the ISA back?, Justice Society of America - Freeform, Mother-Daughter Relationship, New Earth-2, Pat is an awesome dad, Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover Event (CW DC TV Universe), Rick Tyler is protective, Sister Act, Sorry Ralph Dibny isn't in this one, Step-siblings, Stepfather-Stepdaughter relationship, Stepmother-Stepson Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:20:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 32,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25079782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chawk1993/pseuds/chawk1993
Summary: Six months after defeating the Injustice Society with her friends, Courtney Whitmore thinks her life couldn't get any better. She's finally fitting in at school and she has the best boyfriend in the world in Cameron Mahkent. However, her life is about to be turned upside down once more when two visitors claim to be from another Earth arrive in Blue Valley by accident. Not to mention, someone is out to get them.Donna Troy and her husband Nate Schott are visiting Team Flash in Central City when they decide to head to Blue Valley. After being given a device to travel by Cisco Ramon and approved by Brainiac 5 and J'onn J'onzz, the couple set out on their adventure, except something goes array and they end up at the right location... on another Earth. How will this possibly end?
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, Barry Allen/Iris West, Beth Chapel/Rick Tyler, Cecile Horton/Joe West, Cisco Ramon & Luke Fox, Clark Kent/Lois Lane, Courtney Whitmore & Barbara Whitmore, Courtney Whitmore & Beth Chapel & Yolanda Montez & Rick Tyler & Cameron Mahkent, Courtney Whitmore & Mike Dugan, Courtney Whitmore & Pat Dugan, Courtney Whitmore/Cameron Mahkent, Donna Troy/Original Male Character, J'onn J'onzz/M'gann M'orzz, James Chapel/Bridget Chapel, Jordan Mahkent/Christine Mahkent, Kamilla Hwang/Cisco Ramon, Lawrence Crock/Paula Brooks, Pat Dugan/Barbara Whitmore, Yolanda Montez/Henry King Jr
Comments: 7
Kudos: 35





	1. Not The Right Earth

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone so this is my first fanfic in a while. I was posting on another site but got real busy with setting up my blog Project Fangirl (cjhawkings.com) and work and everything. I wanted to start anew and begin posting here.
> 
> I also wanted to point out that this story will be jumping between Earths. Though, it will mostly take place on Earth-2 which is where Stargirl takes place. There may be references to other Earths like the ones where Swamp Thing, Titans, and Doom Petrol take place on, but I'm not sure just yet. 
> 
> I wanted my first fic to be a Stargirl one as I am LOVING the show and cannot wait to see what happens next. So, without further ado, I give you, A Wrong Turn.

**Earth-2**

The wind blew in small bursts. The main street of town was quiet except for a few people going in and out of restaurants and other recreational establishments. All was still until a flash of bright white light expelled two human figures, male and female, before it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.

The woman, whose shoulder-length hair was a dark shade of brown, dark enough to be mistaken for black rose from the crouch she’d exited the void in. At her hip was a coil of rope that might’ve been mistaken for a whip. A few metres away, the man whose honey blonde hair stuck up in uneven spikes steadied himself, a gym bag hanging over his shoulder.

“Did we get there?” the man asked.

The woman glanced at the device in her hand and her expression instantly dropped, half seen in the low light of the streetlamp. “Ah, babe?” she held the device out for her companion to see as he stepped to her side. She looked up at him, her expression unreadable. “Something tells me we’re not in Blue Valley.”

“Ah… I’m sure that sign begs to differ,” her companion pointed to the cinema behind them. The worn-out sign was barely readable, but from what could be seen in the dying light it read, _Blue Valley Cinema._

The woman consulted the device in her hand. “This has different readings to what we’re supposed to be seeing.” She bit her lip before an odd thought made itself known. “What if we’re on another Earth?”

“I thought Cisco said that he couldn’t get any readings of the multiverse.” The man said.

The woman clenched her jaw. “He did, didn’t he? Since Crisis happened, everything’s been off its axis.”

“Did you consult Brainy or J’onn before we left?” the man asked.

“Yes, hon, I did. They said Cisco’s device was safe to use.”

The man went to open his mouth to respond when he and his female companion were swept off their feet without warning. Neither could respond as they both got thrown so hard that they ended up unconscious on the side of the road.

A wound opened on the woman’s forehead, but it didn’t ooze red blood. The liquid was bronze.

* * *

The last six months of Courtney Whitmore’s life had been crazy, but not unwarranted. She had moved to Blue Valley with her mother, stepfather, and stepbrother and had made a surprising discovery of a staff that had a literal mind of its own. She’d also found a great group of friends who would always have her back. The most unexpected part had been her finding love in Cameron Mahkent, the son of her mother’s boss, Jordan Mahkent.

Cameron was as sweet as they came, and despite his father being the reason her superhero predecessor, Starman, was dead, Courtney had never held that against him. He wasn’t like his dad. He was as dedicated to her as Pat was to her mother.

It had been a difficult blow to discover that Sylvester Pemberton was not her biological father. Despite still processing everything, she’d realised that her mother had been right and that the paternal figure in her life was Pat who had looked out for her the second they'd met. Sam Kurtis was now nothing more to her than a faded memory.

Now, Courtney walked hand in hand with Cameron as they exited the cinema.

“…The best part had to be that explosion!” Cameron laughed as they walked.

“I agree.” Courtney laughed alongside him. It was easy to have fun with him as he was easy to talk to. He continued to talk, but something else had Courtney’s attention. Despite the darkness, something was out there. She could sense it.

“Court?”

Courtney’s attention reverted to Cameron. “Hm? Sorry, what were you saying?”

Cameron reached out to touch her shoulder. “You okay? You seem out of it.”

Courtney turned to face the direction she’d been facing before. Cameron followed her gaze. “Is it just me or is something down here?” she questioned as they exchanged glances.

Cameron was well aware of her identity as Stargirl and that Pat was STRIPE. Then there was the whole thing where her friends hadn’t liked the idea of Icicle’s son being in on their little secret. He was supportive of the JSA and teamed up with them as he had inherited his father’s powers and had vowed to do what his father would not; use his powers for good and not evil. “Let’s go check it out.” He said, his hand tightening in hers.

Courtney almost felt giddy. She couldn’t believe how lucky she’d gotten to have him in her life. She nodded as he lead her down the stairs and onto the road. They proceeded with caution, but the closer they got, the quicker the dread set in. Their feet propelled them forward until they were staring down at two unconscious bodies of a man and a woman lying at the edge of the road.

Cameron crouched down to check for pulses. “They’ve both got pulses.” He saw that Courtney already had her phone to her ear. “Who are you calling?”

“Pat. He’ll know what to do.”

“I don’t think calling your stepdad’s going to help us here.” Cameron said.

Courtney held up a finger as she waited for Pat to answer his phone. “Come on, come on.” She muttered.

 _“Court? What’s going on? Are you and Cameron okay?”_ Pat’s worried tone filtered through the speaker.

“Pat, thank god. Yeah, we’re fine. Ah, can you come down to the cinema? There’s something you gotta see.”

There was a pause on the other end. _“Sure. I’ll be there in a few.”_ He then hung up.

“He’s on his way,” Courtney said. Her eyes then drifted to Cameron’s pale face. “What’s wrong?”

Cameron pointed to the woman. “Look at the blood. It’s not red.”

Courtney stepped around to examine the woman’s head wound. “You’re right. Does it look… bronze to you?”

Cameron leaned forward to get a closer look. “Yeah.”

There was a flash of headlights and the pair looked up to see Pat’s red and white 1955 Buick Special hardtop slow to a stop close to where they were kneeling.

“Court? Cameron? You both okay?” Pat called as he climbed out of the car.

“We’re fine.” Courtney said. “We just found these two people here, and we didn’t know what to do.”

Pat walked over. “Are they alive?”

“Yeah,” Cameron said as he rose from his crouch. “I checked for pulses and everything. It would’ve been brutal to have been hit or however they were knocked out.”

Pat crouched down to get a better look. “I don’t think they were struck by a car or even a truck. If they had been, they wouldn’t be lying this far out.”

“Who do you think they are?” Courtney asked.

“I dunno. We need to get them back to the Pit Stop.”

“Did you see the blood on the woman’s forehead?”

“Yeah, I did. It’s bronze. Something tells me she’s not entirely human.” Pat said as he moved to pick the woman up and started to move her towards the car.

Courtney and Cameron exchanged uneasy looks.

“It could be a blood disease,” Courtney suggested. “We could have Beth’s mom look at a sample.”

Cameron buried his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

Pat gently placed the woman on the back seat before he went back for the man who was much heavier than he thought. “I don’t think it’s a blood disease,” he said as he closed the back door of the car. “Did either of you notice the slight shimmer in the blood?”

Cameron nodded. “Yeah, I did. There was something else too. There was a loop of rope attached to the woman's belt.”

“I didn’t notice that,” Courtney said. “Why would she have something like that on her person?”

Pat and Cameron shook their heads, mystified.

Courtney looked around and picked up the bag that had been laying next to the man. “Can’t forget this.” She walked to the car and placed it on the front seat.

“How are you two going to get back to the garage?” Pat questioned.

“We’re not far from the Pit Stop. We’ll walk back.” Cameron said.

Pat nodded. “Understood. See you both in ten.” He headed to the driver’s side and climbed in, started the engine and started back down the street.

Courtney bit her lower lip as she watched the car disappear down the street and into the night. She exhaled as she felt her boyfriend slip his hand into hers. She turned to give him a grateful smile.

“Come on. Let’s get to the garage.”

Nodding, they started down the street.

* * *

Barbara paced as she waited for Pat to arrive back at the garage. She and stepson Mike were now aware that Courtney and Pat were superheroes. They hadn’t been happy at first, but they understood why the truth had been hidden from them. Like Cameron, they were supportive and did whatever they could to help out when they could.

Mike was sitting at his father’s workbench, looking tired. Barbara had dragged him out of bed and he hadn’t been happy about it.

“Barbara, why did you wake me up? I was having a nice dream about pop tarts.”

“I wasn’t going to leave you at home by yourself.”

“I’m old enough to take care of myself, you know.” Mike said, his words slurring a bit.

“Your dad said Courtney called him in a panic. He thought it might’ve been ISA related.”

Mike yawned. “Courtney and the JSA took out the ISA six months ago. I seriously doubt her phone call was about that.”

Barbara considered that. “You’re probably right.”

“She and Cameron probably had a fight or something.” Mike said as he held off another yawn before he rested his head on the bench.

_“Guess again, little man.”_

Mike’s head shot up and Barbara turned towards the door just as Courtney and Cameron entered the space.

“Oh, thank god, you’re both alright.” Barbara hurried to hug the teenagers.

“Mom, we’re fine.”

“Ms Whitmore, we appreciate the concern, but really we’re fine.” Cameron said as Barbara released him and Courtney. Barbara raised an eyebrow at him. “Sorry, Barbara. Force of habit.”

“Understood. It’s perfectly okay, sweetheart.” Barbara smiled.

Barbara had become like another mother to Cameron just as she was to Mike and the other members of the JSA. She treated him like one of her own and it didn’t matter if he was Courtney’s boyfriend.

“Pat not back yet?” Courtney asked.

“I was about to…” Barbara didn’t get to finish her sentence at the familiar sound of Pat’s retro car pulling into the garage.

Pat pulled the car to a complete stop before climbing out and closing the door.

“What took you so long?” Courtney asked her stepfather.

“I had to make sure I wasn’t followed.” He pulled the garage door remote from his pocket and promptly pressed it. He waited for the door to close completely before he spoke again. “We need to get these two out of the car.” He headed around the back and opened the door allowing Mike and Barbara to look in.

“Ah, babe,” Barbara said hesitantly. “Why are there two bodies lying on the back seat?”

“They’re not dead, mom,” Courtney chimed in. “They’re unconscious.”

“Okay,” Mike snorted. “Why are there two _unconscious_ bodies on the back seat?”

Courtney threw her stepbrother a dirty look.

“We found them on the side of the road,” Cameron said. “Something’s not adding up.”

“What makes you think that?” Barbara asked.

“The woman has bronze coloured blood,” Pat said, his hands on his hips. “She’s not fully human.”

Mike took a second look at the unconscious woman. “She looks fully human to me.”

“Where did they come from?”

Pat looked between his son and his wife. “We’re not sure. They’re definitely not locals.”

“What do we do with them?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” said Mike, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Isn’t _what_ obvious?” Courtney asked, suddenly dreading what he was going to say next.

“We need to dissect them. That way, we can work out what they are.”

The others exchanged horrified looks.

Courtney walked over to where STRIPE was standing, grabbed a piece of rag and walked back over to her stepbrother. She grabbed the end and flicked him with it.

Mike yelped as the rag hit him. “Ow! What was that for? God.”

“You’re what an idiot looks like. We can’t dissect them. They’re normal human beings who need our help.” Courtney said.

Pat crossed his arms and nodded. “Courtney’s right, Mike. What were you thinking?”

Barbara and Cameron looked at each other, unsure if they should respond. They’d learned very quickly not to interfere whenever Mike, Pat, and Courtney argued.

“Mike, what is _wrong_ with you?” Pat exclaimed. His son just shrugged.

A groan suddenly sounded, causing everyone to go silent.


	2. Panic On Earth-Prime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On Earth-Prime, Cisco and Team Flash lose the signal to the dimensional device they gave to Donna and Nate. Iris and Cisco contact J'onn and M'gann in National City for help...

**Earth-Prime**

To say Cisco Ramon was fuming was the understatement of the millennia. He had given Donna and Nate a dimensional device that allowed Schott to tap into his vibe-esque powers but they’d lost the signal. J’onn and Brainy had approved the device after ensuring it was safe to use.

The vibrations that had existed previously before Crisis had occurred had been easy to detect. However, now that the event had happened, the vibrations were literally non-existent. All they could sense was Earth-Prime. But, Cisco hadn’t given up trying and apparently, neither had Nash. He already had the other Wellses inside his head which basically made him a thousand times smarter than any genius ever born, though he hated the idea of this. It made him feel even more guilty as he still lived, but the others did not.

“They have to be here!” Barry exclaimed, his fingers digging into his scalp.

Iris did her best to comfort him, but it did no good. It had been his idea to use the device in the first place.

A moment later, Kara Danvers swooshed into S.T.A.R. Labs with her cousin, Clark Kent.

“We got your message,” Kara said as she hurried over to Cisco to hug him. “Diana is going to kill us for losing her sister.”

Cisco clung to his friend tightly. Normally, she would’ve hugged Barry first, but this was something else entirely and the inventor looked like he had just lost everything.

“This is not your fault, Cisco,” Kara said. “We’re all at fault here.”

That didn’t make Cisco feel any better.

Clark, who had been watching, walked around Kara and Cisco to hug Iris and Barry.

“Thank you for coming so quickly,” Iris said. “Cisco has been freaking out since we lost Nate and Donna’s signal.”

“Anything for friends,” Clark issued a small smile. “What exactly happened?”

“We’re not sure,” said Frost who had been sitting silently beside Kamilla and Nash. “Cisco had been given the green light or whatever from your Green Martian friend and the Coluan… Barney or something to use the device thingy. Nate activated it at the same time as his powers and disappeared with the Amazonian lady through the portal.”

“And that’s it?” Kara questioned.

“And that was it.” Cisco muttered, sounding dazed.

Silence endured. This was NOT happening!

_“Hey! We heard what happened. Is everyone okay?”_

No one looked up at the sound of Cecile’s voice as she and Joe entered the lab.

“Whoa.” Joe said as he looked around at the crestfallen group. “Whatever happened must have been bad.”

“It’s pretty bad,” Frost said, prompting Cisco to throw her a dirty look. “What?”

“Okay, can we just breathe for a moment?” Said Kamilla, Cisco’s ever supportive girlfriend as she did circular hand gestures in front of her. “There has to be something we can do to get them back, right?”

Clark and Kara looked at each other while Barry scrambled to come up with an idea. Iris walked over to her dad and rested her head on his shoulder, leaning into his embrace as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“We need to talk to J’onn,” Kara said finally. “If there’s one person who’ll know what to do, it’s him.”

Cisco absently nodded and started to patch a call through to The Tower.

* * *

For William Dey, being the newest member of the Superfriends wasn’t exactly what he had in mind when he’d befriended Kara almost a year ago. Sure, he’d been a jerk to her in the start but it had been a ruse to uncover what was going on with Andrea Rojas and her connection to his best friend, Russell who had died mysteriously.

Finding out that Supergirl and Kara were the same person had been totally mind-blowing to him. While he hadn’t liked that she’d kept such a huge secret from him, he’d understood. She wanted to keep as many people safe as she could and that included him. Along the way, he’s discovered that Nia was Dreamer and that Kelly and Alex had been in on the secret too. Also, J’onn was a Green Martian and Barney was actually known as Brainiac 5 and was a Coluan.

As mind boggling as that was, he had to admit it was pretty cool. Now he was sitting at a bench in The Tower with his laptop in front of him. He was planning to write an article on the transgender community and he had wanted Nia’s input. She had told him to meet her at The Tower. J’onn was standing on the other side of the space with his partner, M’gann.

Suddenly, a loud beeping sounded prompting the two martians to look up from their conversation.

“What’s that?” William asked as J’onn and M’gann hurried to the console next to him.

“Incoming transmission.” J’onn said as he activated the call.

 _“J’onn? Thank god!”_ Came a voice William didn’t recognise. He stood up and stood between the two aliens. On the screen in front of them was a young man with shoulder-length black hair and woman with dark skin staring back at them.

“Cisco. Iris. What’s wrong?” J’onn asked.

“Iris?” William questioned. “As in Iris West-Allen?”

The woman blinked. “You know me?”

“Not personally. Kara mentioned you. I’m William by the way.”

“Oh! William Dey, right? I’ve read all your work, especially your exposé on Lex Luthor.” Iris looked excited at the prospect of talking to another journalist.

“That’s right. I’ve read all your work too. Especially your articles on The Flash.” William smiled.

“Okay!” Iris’ companion interrupted. “Can we not geek out over each other’s journalism escapades, please? We have an Amazonian and a meta to find!”

“Donna and Nathaniel are missing?” Said M’gann, her tone sounding surprised and worried at the same time.

“You must be M’gann,” Iris said.

“It’s lovely to finally meet you, Iris. Kara says some lovely things about you.”

Iris beamed back. “She’s said lovely things about you too. Oh, and I apologise for Cisco’s outburst.”

William had to hold back a laugh as Cisco threw Iris a look of sheer disbelief.

“What’s happening with Donna?” J’onn asked as he tried to steer the conversation back on course.

“The device’s signal just disappeared.” Cisco said.

“That’s impossible,” M’gann said. “J’onn and Brainy checked to make sure it was safe.” She turned to her companion. “Right?”

J’onn nodded. “Yes, we did. Brainy said there was a 97.5% chance that everything was safe.”

“So that means,” William said, his mind doing the math. “That there’s a 2.5% chance something could’ve gone wrong.”

“Agreed.” J’onn mused. “I don’t understand. What could’ve happened?” He looked over at M’gann who had reached around William to place a hand on his shoulder.

“Do you think there’s a chance that Nate’s powers shorted out or something?” William asked.

Cisco shook his head. “Unlikely. I taught Nate to use his powers myself. I might not have mine anymore but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t teach him. His abilities differ from mine, though the concept is relevantly the same.”

“Different how?” J’onn questioned.

“Well, I could see things by touching objects or people. I also needed special tech to be able to open breaches. Nate doesn’t need of that. His powers are all naturally ingrained in his DNA. How that’s possible is beyond even my comprehension.”

“But what about the device?” M’gann asked as William listened intently. This had to be the strangest technological conversation he’d ever heard. “Could it have interfered with his abilities?”

There was a pregnant pause.

“Perhaps.” J’onn said, though it wasn’t an actual answer.

_"Will? You here?”_

The conversation ceased when Nia’s voice echoed up the stairs.

“Damn,” William muttered. “All this excitement and I suddenly forgot I was supposed to co-authoring an article with Nia.”

“Go do your thing,” M’gann said with a nod. “We’ll keep you informed.”

William gave her a thankful smile.

Footsteps sounded and Nia appeared in the doorway. “Hey!” She greeted with a smile.

“Hey Nia,” M’gann smiled.

“What’s going on here?” Nia asked as she walked over to J’onn and M’gann and seeing Cisco and Iris on the screen. “No way! Iris West-Allen?!”

Iris grinned. “You must be Nia. Kara’s mentioned you’re a budding journalist.”

Nia smiled and nodded. She then turned her attention to Cisco. “You must be Cisco.”

“That is me,” Cisco grinned. “Nice to finally put a face to the name.”

“Likewise,” Nia giggled. “Now, what’s going on?”

J’onn quickly filled her in on everything that was happening with Donna and Nate.

“Oh, god. Is there something I can do to help? I can try and dream where they are.”

“That’s really sweet you,” said Iris. “But, we’re still racking our brains here too. We only called J’onn because he might have answers for us.” She sighed. “Donna’s sister is going to have our heads if we can’t get her sister and brother-in-law back.”

“Diana?” William said.

“You know D’s sister?” Cisco frowned.

William nodded. “Yeah. I’ve interviewed her a few times whenever she had an antiquities auction in London. Wasn’t really my scene but she was lovely.”

“Diana Prince is as a warrior who might seem lovely and sweet, but she’s deadly whenever someone she loves is threatened.” Said J’onn. “We have to keep this from her until we can at least get in contact with Donna and Nate.”

“Agreed,” Nia said. “I have an idea where we can start,” she turned back to the screen. “Iris, Cisco, Kara and Clark are both there, aren’t they?”

“Yeah.” Cisco frowned. He wanted to say more but the look on Nia’s face told him she was determined to help.

“Tell Kara and Clark to meet me in Smallville. I think Lois might be able to help us.”

“Can do.” With that, the transmission cut out.

Silence fell.

“What are you thinking Nia?” M’gann asked, breaking the silence.

Nia grinned.

“What about our article?” William asked.

“It can wait. Yes, the transgender community is important, but these are our friends and they need us. Our voices will still be there when we come back.”

Nia normally didn’t like shrugging off something that meant so much to her, but the multiverse was at stake. If she was lucky, she might be able to find a new angle for the article she and William were planning while on this new adventure.

* * *

Smallville had always been special to Clark as it had been the place he’d grown up. Ma and Pa had always believed in him and had treated him like every child should have been; with love. However, things weren’t always smooth sailing. A few years ago, Pa had died and it had basically destroyed Ma internally. While she tried to be strong for Clark, her heart would forever be broken.

Clark and Kara touched done outside the Kent farmhouse. A moment later, Nia arrived via a breach opened by an interdimensional extrapolator that been recalibrated for travel across Earth-Prime.

“It’s good to be back,” Kara said as she looked around. She hadn’t been here since before Crisis. It seemed to so long ago that Lois and Clark had told her they were having a baby. That was _before_ the multiverse had changed so much stuff around. Jonathan was no longer a baby and had been born much earlier on this new Earth alongside his twin, Jordan.

 _“Mom! Dad, Kara, and Aunt Nia are here!”_ Called a voice and moment later, a teenage boy who looked strikingly like Clark ran out of the house and straight into his father’s arms.

Clark chuckled. “Hi, sport. I hope you and your brother haven’t been too much trouble for your mother and grandparents.”

 _“Don’t worry dear,”_ said a voice that Clark knew too well. _“The boys have been fine.”_

Clark smiled when he saw his adoptive mother, Martha walk down the steps and stop, a large smile on her face. “Hi, Ma.”He said as he embraced her while Jonathan went to greet the other newcomers.

“Hi, Cousin Kara! Hi, Aunt Nia!”

Kara and Nia laughed and embraced the teenager. “Hi, Jon!”

Given how much earlier Jon and his brother had been born on Earth-Prime, they’d grown up seeing Nia as an honorary aunt alongside all their parents’ other friends who had played roles in their upbringings. As far as the they were concerned, their parents' friends were extended family. However, they still had no idea that their dad was Superman or that they might powers of their own.

Lois and Clark had agreed that it was best for the twins to not know that they were half-Kryptonian until they were old enough to understand. They had also discussed the situation with Kara’s mother and Clark’s aunt, Alura. She’d agreed that the boys weren’t to be told of their heritage until they were ready.

Martha’s eyes landed on Kara and Nia. “Kara, Nia.” She extended her arms out to them and they walked into them.

“Hi, Aunt Martha.” Kara said, sinking into the older woman’s embrace.

“Hi Missus Kent,” Nia said before she was forced to correct herself. “Sorry, Martha.”

Martha chuckled as she held the two women at arms length. “Nia, you know better than anyone that you’re a treasured member of this family.”

Nia smiled and nodded. She’d always known that she was, but it was just nice to be reassured of that, especially since she was still estranged from her older sister, Maeve.

“Come in, come in, Lois, Sam, and Jordan are inside waiting.” Martha said as she ushered everyone towards the farmhouse.

“Are those cookies I smell?” Kara said, perking up excitedly.

“Chocolate chip?” Nia added.

Martha smiled. “Maybe.”

Clark laughed as he followed the women into the house.

The deeper the group went inside, the stronger the scent was and sure enough, the second they hit the kitchen it became unmistakable.

The moment Martha re-entered the kitchen, this time with Clark, Kara, and Nia at her heels, Lois was out of her chair and embracing her cousin-in-law and friend before going to kiss her husband. “I got a text from Iris about Donna and Nate going missing on their way to Blue Valley. What’s the latest?”

“That’s kinda the reason I asked Kara and Clark to meet me here,” said Nia. “I had an idea on how we might be able to at least track them.”

“And you needed my help.” Lois concluded, prompting Nia to nod. “I’m only a reporter, but I do have my sources, though I doubt they’ll be of any help.”

_“Jordan, can you please put that thing down? You’re going to rot your brain.”_

Samuel Lane entered the Kent kitchen, a stern scowl on his face as he reprimanded his grandson. The boy, Jordan simply ignored him and continued to play the console video game that was basically stuck to his hand.

Clark sighed. Jordan wasn’t like Jonathan. He was introverted and preferred to keep to himself whereas Jon was outgoing and loved to cause mischief. He and Lois had hoped he would grow out of this phrase but it was becoming apparent that he wouldn’t.

Lois walked over to her father and second son and yanked the console out of Jordan’s hands.

“Hey!” He protested.

Saving her son’s progress, she switched the console off and sat it on the table. “Jordan, don’t be rude. We have guests and you should listen to your grandfather.”

Jordan rolled his eyes before looking up to see who the guests were. His face lit up when he noticed Kara and Nia standing next to his father, waving enthusiastically. “Cousin Kara! Aunt Nia! What brings you both here?” he asked as the two women rushed over and hugged him.

“Hi General Lane.” Kara said, her throat closing with saliva.

Long before Crisis, Sam had been a very different man. He had hated aliens and metahumans and he had despised Clark and James for dating his daughters. Now, he was a totally different person. He was a lovely man who adored his grandsons and to some miracle, Clark too. He even knew his son-in-law was Superman and they’d joined forces on more than one occasion. It terrified Kara internally and she wasn’t sure why. Perhaps it was because she still had her memories from pre-Crisis intact and her experiences with Sam then had given her lower expectations of who he’d become on this new Earth. She wasn’t sure and she didn’t want to find out.

Sam tilted his head and moved to hug her. “Hello Kara, it’s lovely to see you.” He knew he terrified her, but he never let it bother him. He was sure she had her reasons for being uneasy towards him.

Kara hugged him back and while she recognised how Lois had ended up such a great hugger, it didn’t make her uneasiness towards Sam any easier.

Lois understood why Kara felt the way she did and so did Clark. J’onn had given the reporter back her memories from before Crisis and she couldn’t believe that her relationship with her dad and little sister was basically nonexistent. She felt her husband press a kiss to her hair as they watched the beyond awkward exchange between Kara and Sam.

“Boys, why don’t you go help Grandma Martha with the cookies and the cakes?” Lois suggested. “Your dad and I have something we need to discuss with your grandpa, Kara, and Nia.”

“Sure, mom.” Jonathan said, more than happy to help his grandmother.

Jordan, on the other hand wasn’t as cooperative. “Why do I have to help grandma? Why can’t I just join your conversation?”

“Jordan, we’ve discussed this,” Clark said, his tone stern. “There are things we can’t talk about around you and your brother.”

“Yeah,” Jonathan called from the counter where he was helping Martha mix one of three bowls of cake mix sitting in front of them. “Mom and dad aren’t going to tell us anything that’s work-based.”

Jordan turned to glare at his brother. “Dad got fired, remember?” he hissed.

“Boys!” Lois snapped. “No fighting.” She turned to Kara and Nia. “I am so sorry about them. It’s not like them to fight when we’ve got guests.”

Kara patted her arm. “Don’t worry, Lo. This is not the first time they’ve fought when we’ve been around.”

Lois shuddered. The last time the boys had gotten into a fight around guests had been when Cat Grant had returned to National City on business and the twins had basically trashed the surprise party at CatCo.

“Jordan, come and help me,” Martha called. “I’ll let you lick the spoon.”

There was no way Jordan could resist that. He rolled his eyes and went to join her and Jonathan.

Clark looked over at his mother, mouthing “Thank you” to her before she shooed him and the others out of the room.


	3. Lasso

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna and Nate awaken in the Pit Stop and almost cause a scene...

Donna Troy-Schott had never known a headache quite like the one she had now. She groaned and the pain that was rattling around her head suddenly eased. She shot up into a sitting position, her hand going to the lasso attached to her belt.

_Thank the gods!_

She held back a gasp as she found five sets of eyes staring back at her. Next to her, her husband stirred, groggy.

“D?” He sat up to see what she was seeing.

“You’re awake.” A voice said.

Donna and turned her head to see a brunette haired man watching her. He could’ve been the one to who had spoken as the other people in the room were a blonde woman, a teenage girl who could’ve been her daughter, a teenage boy who could’ve been the girl’s boyfriend, and a preteen boy who had the same facial expression as the man. Yep. He was _definitely_ the guy’s son.

On instinct, Donna jumped into a defensive couch, her husband scrambling to his feet. “Who are you?” She snarled.

The man held out his hands as a way of telling her that they meant no harm. “It’s okay. We’re not going to hurt ya. My name’s Pat.” He gestured to himself. He then gestured to the blonde woman. “This is my wife, Barbara.” She gave a bright smile and a wave that reminded Donna eerily of Kara. Pat then gestured the preteen. “My son, Mike.” Donna’s eyes flickered to the kid who gave a nervous smile. “My stepdaughter, Courtney.” Pat gestured to the blonde girl who issued an unsure smile. “And Cameron, Courtney’s boyfriend.” Donna turned to the teenage boy who was simply observing the conversation.

“How do we know you’re not going to trick us?” Donna said, her eyes ablaze with a warning to stay away.

“You don’t,” said Courtney as she took a step forward. “You just need to trust us. We’re the good guys.”

Donna could hear the truth in Courtney’s words, which prompted her to rise from her defensive couch. She felt her husband rise next to her.

“Who are you?” Barbara asked.

“My name’s Donna Troy-Schott,” Donna said. She then gestured to Nate. “This is my husband, Nathaniel.”

“Welcome to Blue Valley, Donna and Nathaniel,” Barbara said.

Nate looked around, still unsure where he and Donna were. “Where are we?”

“The Pit Stop,” said Courtney. “Pat runs it. He’s a mechanic.”

“We’re in a mechanic’s workshop?” Donna questioned.

“What’s the last thing you remember?’ Mike asked.

“Being on the road outside the cinema.” Nate said. “How did we get here?”

Courtney, Cameron, and Pat looked at each other, not sure how much they should say. They’d all seen the lasso that was attached to her belt. They didn’t want to know how lethal Donna was with that thing.

“Courtney called Pat and he came and got you.” Cameron said, having found his voice. “We found you on the side of the road unconscious.”

Donna and Nate looked at each other.

“My sister is going to kill us.” Donna muttered to her husband.

“Sorry?” Courtney asked.

Donna pursed her lips together, trying to weigh up whether she should be telling these strangers from a totally different Earth why they were even in Blue Valley to begin with.

“Nate and I were meant to go to Blue Valley… on our Earth.” Donna said, choosing her words carefully.

This got everyone’s attention.

“Another Earth?” Barbara questioned, a frown forming.

Donna and Nate nodded.

“We know it’s a bit much.”

“I’ve heard of such a thing, but I never thought it was real.” Pat said, all sets of eyes landing on him, forcing him to explain.

“Doctor Mid-Nite had a theory that there was more than one Earth. He just couldn’t prove it.”

“Does Beth know this?” Courtney snorted.

“I don’t think she’s even had the chance to ask.” Mike crossed his arms, now wide awake.

“I’m joking.” Courtney said, rolling her eyes at her stepbrother.

“I don’t get it,” Barbara said. “How could McNider have theorised that?”

“Charles wasn’t just a doctor or the founder of the original JSA,” Pat told her. “He was also a brilliant detective.”

“Maybe Rick’s dad wrote about it in his journal.” Cameron concluded thoughtfully.

“That’s possible,” Pat had always been impressed with Cameron’s suggestions. “That can be something you guys ask Rick at school tomorrow.”

Courtney and Cameron had been enjoying each other’s company so much that they’d forgotten that it was a Sunday night, meaning school was the next day.

“Oh, right. I forgot it was a Sunday.” Courtney said, disappointed.

“Come on, Cameron,” said Pat. “I’ll give you a lift home.”

Cameron gave him a small smile before he turned to Courtney. “See you tomorrow?” He grinned the she nodded. He pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her on the cheek. Letting her go, he gave her hand an affectionate squeeze before following Pat out of the garage.

Silence endured before Mike decided to break it. “Okay, so we’re going home. What are we going to do with them?” He pointed to Donna and Nate.

“You can come home with us,” Barbara said brightly. “We have more than enough room.”

“Oh, it’s fine Barbara,” said Donna. “We don’t want to impose.”

“Don’t be silly. You wouldn’t be imposing at all.”

Courtney and Mike exchanged awkward looks.

“Are you sure?” Nate asked.

“Of course I’m sure.”

Nate and Donna looked at each other, a small smile between them seemed to confirm what they were both thinking.

“Sure, thank you. It means so much to us.” Donna said.

“Great! You can put your stuff in the trunk.” Barbara beamed as she gestured for the couple, Courtney, and Mike to follow her out to the car.

* * *

After being dropped off at home by Pat, Cameron made his way through the house in the dark. His grandparents and father weren’t at home and they’d be back in the morning.

Since discovering his father had been responsible for the death of Joey Zarick, Cameron had not been able to look at his father in the same way. He tried to spend as much time away from home as he could as he didn’t want to be in a house with a killer and his grandparents whom he suspected had known about what had happened to Joey’s parents, William and Denise too.

Jordan had tried to justify his actions to his son, but no matter what he said, it just made him look more guilty in Cameron’s eyes. He even had the nerve to tell him that he did what he did to protect him, and to get revenge for his mother’s death. To make the situation worse, Jordan had even admitted to hoping that Cameron would become just like him.

From what Beth had learned about Cindy’s upbringing via her Doctor Mid-Nite goggles, she’d discovered that Dragon King was her father and had raised her to be a killing machine. As it turned out, Jordan had wanted to do the same thing with Cameron. However, he had never thought that his son would inherit his cryokensis.

Upon discovering what his son was capable of, Jordan had tried to rally him to his side, but was flat out refused. Cameron told him that he would NOT be used as the reason he wanted revenge on the people who killed his mother. Yes, she had been poisoned but killing them was not the answer.

Jordan could see what an impact Courtney had on his son and while he was glad his son was happy, he did not like the idea of her trying to ‘corrupt’ him and had tried to argue this to Cameron.

Cameron had stood his ground. It was in this moment that he realised the feelings he had for Courtney were what pushed him forward, to be the bigger person. His father had used his grief over Christine’s death as an excuse to kill people who may not have even known that the toxin she’d been exposed to would kill her. This also included the killing of the JSA and Starman. Cameron knew how torn up Courtney had been over this and how Pat felt about the situation too.

His father had killed Pat’s best friend. Sure, Christine had been sick when this had occurred but when was violence ever the answer? Cameron had seen the good the JSA were doing by taking down the ISA. He wasn’t going to stand in their way, especially since his girlfriend wouldn’t stop until she had accomplished her goal; avenge the original JSA.

Finally ending up in his room, Cameron got changed for bed, his mind overwhelmed with everything he had encountered that evening. His date with Courtney had gone amazingly well as it always did and then there was everything that had gone on with Donna and Nathaniel. It really was unbelievable that he was mixed up in this crazy world of heroes and villains. What made it worth it was Courtney.

Every third of Cameron’s thoughts were of Courtney. Everything she did made his feelings for her deepen even more. She’d chosen him and it meant so much to him that she could overlook the fact his dad had killed people just to ‘make the world safer’. He knew what she was doing was the right thing and he would always support that. As he settled down into his blankets, he felt a smile form as he drifted to sleep.

* * *

Donna paced the guest room that Barbara, Courtney, Pat, and Mike had allowed her and Nate to stay in at their house. It was incredibly kind of them to open their home up to a pair of strangers.

Nate sat at the edge of the bed as he watched his wife walk up and down. She was wearing a white tank top along with her signature W necklace that symbolised the link she had with her sisters, Diana and Cassie hanging around her neck. She also wore workout leggings and her feet were bare while her dark hair was pulled back from her face in a low ponytail.

“Honey, can you stop pacing? You’re making me antsy.”

Donna clenched her teeth together, her hands were together like she was praying and close to her face to show her mind was working overtime. “How can we just end up in on another Earth? Everything was going fine and Cisco’s device was confirmed to be working.”

Nate rose from the bed and stepped towards his wife, he reached for her shoulders, stopping her from taking another step forward. “Breathe. I know this isn’t ideal, but we’re in good hands with the Whitmore-Dugans. I know it.”

As much as Donna loved Nate, he was so trusting. She could sense that their new acquaintances had good intentions but there more going on than they thought. “I love that you want to see the good in everyone, but I have a feeling there is more to this story that we’re not seeing.”

“Stop being so—” Nate didn’t get the chance to continue there was a knock at the door. Stepping forward, he opened it to find Courtney with a stack of blankets. “Courtney, hey.”

“Hi,” Courtney sounded almost nervous. “Mom and Pat wanted me to give you these. This is the coldest room in this entire house and it’s spring.”

“Come in, come in. This is your house after all.” Nate said as he gave a sweeping hand gesture as he moved aside to allow the teenager to enter the room.

Courtney issued a thankful grin as she entered with the blankets. Once she was in the room, she placed them on the dresser as Nate closed the door.

“So, how are you enjoying Blue Valley?” Courtney said in an attempt to make decent conversation.

“We haven’t had a chance to see much of the town,” Nate said. “Though, hopefully we’ll get a chance in the morning.”

“Oh, yeah. There’s a load to do.” Courtney said as she tried to keep eye contact. Suddenly, something caught her eye.

Donna, who had been watching the teenager, followed her gaze to the lasso that was peeking out of the gym bag. “Ah, I see you have become fascinated in my lasso.”

Courtney frowned. “Lasso? That’s what was hanging from your belt before?”

Donna nodded before she got up and grabbed the weapon and held it out to the teenager.

“It’s just rope,” said Courtney as she stared at the object in Donna’s hand. “Why would you have this on your person?”

“It’s not just a length of rope,” said Nate as he returned to his perch on the bed. “It’s a weapon.”

Courtney snorted. “Right.”

As if on cue, the lasso started to glow as if it sensed its user needed it.

Courtney reeled back in surprise. “Whoa! It’s… alive?”

“Not exactly,” said Donna as she allowed the hand holding the lasso to drop to her side. “It’s actually enchanted.”

“Enchanted? What like with spells and curses enchanted?”

Nate and Donna exchanged amused looks.

“Pretty close. It’s actually known as the Lasso of Truth.”

“What so it help you tell the truth?”

Nate nodded. “Exactly. However, Donna can’t use it on herself or her sisters as it would defeat the point.”

“Right. Wait, did you say ‘Sisters’?”

“He did.”

“That must have been an interesting experience growing up.”

“I didn’t have an ordinary childhood. I was raised an island full of women as the spare heir of my mother’s throne.” Donna snorted.

Something told Courtney that Donna’s childhood had been less than ideal, but there was something that caught her attention. “Did you just say ‘mother’s throne?’”

“Yes, I did.”

“Are you like… royalty or something?”

“You might say that, yeah. Though, I am only related to royalty. My mother is Queen of the Amazons. My sister is her heir. I don’t have a title.” Donna didn’t really want to talk about her Amazonian life, but she wanted to make a good impression on Courtney.

“Wow. That’s so cool. I’ve never met royalty before. Hold on, though. You said ‘sisters’ before you only mentioned one before. Did something happen?”

Donna smirked. “I see great potential in you, Courtney. No detail has escaped you yet.”

Courtney grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, Cameron says the same thing.”

“Oh, that guy that was with you before?” Donna questioned, prompting Courtney to nod in response. “He’s cute.” Nate mockingly gave her a hurt frown. “Oh, but you’ll always be my number one, honey.” She reached over to kiss him quickly before turning her attention back to Courtney. “To answer your question, I have two sisters. One older and one younger half.”

“So, you’re like the middle sister?”

“Yep. Diana, my older sister has never liked the way our mother treated me.”

“What happened to your younger one?”

“She’s still around. Diana and I didn’t even know about her until about a year ago.”

Nate and Donna caught the confused look on Courtney’s face.

“How much do you about Greek Mythology?” Nate asked, his face becoming neutral.

“Not a lot,”Courtney admitted. “I just know there’s a load of gods involved.”

Donna nodded. “There’s much more to the myths than want most people know. But, you’re actually not far off. My father is a god.”

Courtney blinked, her jaw dropping in surprise. “What? You mean, you’re an actual half-god?”

Nate chuckled. “The correct term is demigod but yes, she is. Actually, she’s an Amazonian demigod. She’s one of only two in the world that we’re aware of.”

“Your older sister, Diana is the other one.”

“Yes. Our half-sister, Cassandra is from our father’s union with a moral woman. She’s a few years older than you are. Let’s just say, our father, dear old daddy Zeus had a wandering eye. If there was a woman he fancied, he’d have her. He would often disguise himself as a former lover or a husband or even a potential love interest and he’d have his way with them and then leave. Most of these women would end up carrying his child and then left to raise the kid alone.”

“That is so sad,” Courtney really was sympathetic towards her. She knew what it was like have no contact with her father. The closest thing she had to a dad was Pat. “You must have tons of siblings. The closest thing I have to a sibling is Mike.”

“I noticed.” Donna smiled.

Nate watched the exchange cautiously.

“Yes, I have a ton of siblings but I don’t know most of them. I might be several thousands years old, but gods live forever, even after people stop believing in them.”

“So, most of your siblings are the actual Greek gods, huh? That must be awkward at dinner parties.” Courtney said sarcastically.

“It is pretty grotesque. Though my dad was rarely around during my childhood and that of Diana’s, we always knew who was. Our mother never kept it secret. There was one time where our half-brother, Ares showed up at a sacred ceremony to commemorate fallen Amazonians from centuries ago when Zeus created our species and he basically trashed it.”

“Case in point,” Nate said dryly. “Ares is a colossal asshole.”

“You’ve met him?” Courtney asked.

“Once or twice. Family gatherings are rare in Donna’s family. We have more to do with Diana and Cassie than we do Hippolyta.”

Courtney nodded. “I understand that feeling. The only family I have are my parents and Mike. My grandma died a couple of years ago and I never really knew my biological father. I saw him four times before he disappeared on Christmas Eve when I was 5. It was just my mom and I for the longest time before she met and married Pat. Cameron was mostly raised by his grandparents after his mom died. His dad was always away seeking his revenge.” She caught the confused looks on her new friends’ faces. “It’s a story for another time. Night.” She have them a quick wave before backing out of the room and closing the door.

For a moment, everything was quiet until Donna broke the silence. “Okay, that was a little weird, right?”

“Yeah, real weird.” Nate said as Donna went to put her lasso back in the gym bag.

“Why do you think she asked about the lasso?” Donna asked as she headed to the bathroom.

“Does it matter?” Said Nate. “She’s a curious kid.”

 _Too curious,_ Donna thought as she prepared for bed.


	4. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cameron's relationship with his father was already fragile, but when Jordan calls his son out on his love for Courtney, Cameron throws his dad's feelings for Barbara in his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry about about the late posting. I was supposed to have this posted earlier in the month but work got in the way. I also apologise that this chapter is slow burning the good stuff is coming in the next few chapters.

Cameron knew he had to get out of the house and fast. This was his play every morning and had been for the last six months since he’d been told who his father really was. The only chance he didn’t get to do this was weekends so he had make any excuse not to be at home.

His grandparents had allowed his dad to deal with his apparently rebellious behaviour and it was beginning to wear a little thin. They didn’t like Courtney for some reason, but Cameron did not care. What had gone down, wasn’t their business and they had known that Jordan had killed Joey and William. They’d covered it up, and for what reason?

Throwing the strap of his backpack over his shoulder, Cameron tried to hightail it out of the house, but he was too slow as his father caught him.

“Cameron. Wait.”

“I gotta get to school.” Cameron tried to move around Jordan, but his father blocked him.

“You need to listen to me.” Jordan said, standing his ground.

“No, I don’t,” Cameron said, the pain of everything he had seen, heard, and witnessed flooding into his emotions. “Not after everything you’ve done.”

Jordan felt like he’d punched in the stomach. His son had never looked at him with such disgust before. He knew that he’d been absent from Cameron’s life for so long that his child barely knew him, but he was trying to make up for it. “Son, I just want you to understand why I did what I did.”

“I don’t need to,” Cameron now understood why Rick was always angry. He was mad at the world for taking his parents away from him and allowing the ISA to create mayhem. The younger Mahkent didn’t hate the universe the way his friend and teammate did. However, he knew right from wrong. What Jordan did to avenge his mother’s death wasn’t right. Killing people wasn’t the right call. “You killed people.”

“To avenge your mother’s death,” Jordan argued. “How many more times do I need to express that?”

Cameron was tired of arguing. For six months, he, his father, and grandparents had been going around in an endless loop of the same weak explanation. “You keep saying that, but it doesn’t make it right. Do you _really_ think mom would want you to kill?”

“Courtney’s changed you.”

The hair stood up on the back of Cameron’s neck, his hand tightening on the strap of his backpack. He slowly turned around to see the cold look in his dad’s eyes.

“Don’t you threat her.” Cameron spat through his teeth.

Jordan issued a cold smirk. “Your love for her is touching to say the least."

Cameron suddenly felt sick. He had to think quickly. “Like you can talk. Your feelings for Ms Whitmore speaks volumes.”

Jordan clenched his jaw. “I tried to convince her that I was better for her than her husband, but she chose him over me.”

Cameron did his best to keep himself in check. He wasn’t Rick where he would simply attack and ask questions later. No. Cameron had to be smartwith what he chose to say next. “Pat is not a bad guy.” Okay, well, this wasn’t exactly a great thing to say when addressing Courtney’s stepfather. The man was overprotective but for a good reason. Cameron had heard from Yolanda and Beth that Pat was notorious for holding the team back if he felt the situation they were going to walk into was dangerous.

“You must like the guy to say that given that Pat is your girlfriend’s stepfather.” Jordan said smoothly.

A cold chill ran down Cameron’s spine. Pat had been like another father to him in the last six months. He’d been welcomed into the Whitmore-Dugan home with open arms and Pat and Barbara were both amazing people. While he knew his dad could see that in Barbara, he could sense the distain he had for Pat as he had the woman he so clearly wanted.

The chill Cameron had just felt had nothing to do with his developing powers. It had to do with his father’s words. Jordan had killed William and Joey Zarick and so many other people who had stood in his way of getting revenge for Christine’s death that it was almost impossible to work out where one obsession started and where another ended.

In all all honesty, it terrified him. Feeling he had no other option, Cameron quickly stepped around his father and hurried out of the house.

* * *

It was just another morning in the Whitmore-Dugan household but with two special guests. Nate helped Pat with breakfast while Donna sat with Barbara talking about some of her experiences fighting crime back on her own Earth.

_“Ow! Mike!”_

The conversation slowed to a whisper before it stopped altogether as Courtney and Mike stumbled into the kitchen.

“Morning Court!” Pat greeted with a smile.

“Morning, honey.” Barbara grinned.

“Hey! What do I look like to you?”

“Hi Mike,” Barbara said, seeing her stepson’s not-so-subtle eye roll. “I hope you slept well.” It was no secret how much closer Mike and Barbara had become in the last six months.

While he’d hidden it from Pat, Mike craved the maternal figure to the point that he’d exploded at Courtney at the homecoming game for spending so much time with his dad. After the ‘car accident’ Courtney had caused which had been revealed to Mike and Barbara later as Shiv’s attack, the kid had found himself fearing that Courtney might’ve been killed and he’d lose the closest thing to a sister he’d ever had. Since then, he and Courtney had become as close as siblings even though they still fought.

“I slept well, thank you for asking Barb,” Mike said as he sat down beside Donna. “So, what we talking about?”

Courtney caught the smug look on Mike’s face and wanted to murder him and bury him. Though, she kept her comments to herself. She didn’t want her mother or Pat to call her out, especially on such a good morning.

“Hey, Courtney?” Nate called from the stove.

“Yeah?”

“Can you hand me that plate?” Nate pointed to the plate sitting next to the sink.

“Sure.” Picking it up, Courtney handed it to him. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” Nate issued a smile as he slid a stack of pancakes onto the plate.

Courtney was about to sit down when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Pulling it out, she saw she had a text from Cameron which read:

_Need to talk to you ASAP!_

Frowning, Courtney responded with:

_Is everything ok?_

Cameron’s immediate reply came through just seconds later:

_Issue with my dad. Explain more when you get to school_

Barbara, Donna, and Mike who had been all been watching her could see her concern before she voiced it.

“Everything okay, hon?” Barbara asked.

“I’m not sure,” Courtney admitted. “That was Cameron. He said he wants to talk… about his dad.”

Pat who had been about to put Nate’s plate of pancakes on the table, stopped when he saw the concern etched on her face. “Everything okay?”

“Cameron wants to talk about his dad.”

“Why?” Pat asked.

“That’s a good question,” Courtney said. “What could Icicle have done this time?”

“I can take you to school,” Donna said. “I’m pretty good at finding places I’ve never been to before.”

“What about your licence?” Said Nate, turning from the stove. “Surely, Earth-2 licences are different to Earth-Prime.”

Pat pulled his wallet out of his pocket and pulled his licence out.

Donna did the same and sat it side-by-side. To her surprise, they looked exactly the same. “Wow, so my licence looks exactly the same as the ones on Earth-2. But, we have another problem.”

“Which is?” Mike prompted.

“What if there’s no Donna Troy on Earth-2? I could get pulled over and they’d check my licence, they’ll think it’s fake.” She looked over at her husband.

“Let’s just hope you don’t get pulled over.”

“I don’t think you will be pulled over,” said Courtney. “The cops here are on the American Dream’s payroll. They only pounce if something is interfering with their plans.”

“Court, you do remember _I_ work for the American Dream, don’t you?” Barbara cocked an eyebrow at her daughter.

“You don’t count, mom. You and Mister Chapel are two of the good ones.”

“Who’s Mister Chapel?” Nate asked.

“James is Beth’s father. Beth is a friend of Courtney and Cameron’s,” Barbara explained. “One more thing. How are you going to get there? We’ve only got two cars.”

“Not a problem,” Pat added. “I’ve been teaching Courtney to drive so I bought a cheap car for her to practice in.”

Barbara turned to her husband. “You bought Courtney a car without consulting me first? Pat, I thought we talked about this.”

“We _did_ talk about it, Barb. When we took down the ISA we had that long conversation about what I could and couldn’t do in regards to Court’s safety. You told me that I could teach her to drive, but only if we used a rust bucket.”

Barbara blinked and nodded. “Oh right. Sorry. Everything’s been crazy lately.” She took a sip of coffee.

“It’s okay,” Pat said with a smile. “It’s been crazy at the garage too.”

“How do you mean?” Courtney asked as she chewed a bit of pancake.

“The extensive repairs to S.T.R.I.P.E. have been wearing me down,” Pat explained. “Adding upgrades is not what I had in mind six months ago.”

It was hard to imagine that six months ago Courtney had become Stargirl. Though, it seemed much longer. Maybe it was a year ago? No one could really be sure.

Courtney turned to Donna. “You sure you’re okay with taking me to school?”

“Absolutely.” Donna said before she drained the rest of her coffee and stood up.

“You sure you’re up for this, D?” Nate asked as he turned the stove and turned to face her.

“Positive. Besides, it allows me to get to know one of our new friends.”

Nate weighed up the options before he nodded. “Okay. Just be careful.”

“Before you go, Donna, you’ll need these.” Pat threw something at Donna and she caught it like it was a baseball.

“Whoa,” said Mike, his jaw dropping. “Nice reflexes.”

Donna smiled at him as she jangled the keys between her fingers. “Thanks. Being half Amazon helps me.”

“I just had an idea,” said Barbara suddenly, prompting everyone to turn to face her. “How about we have a welcome dinner?”

“Great idea, mom,” said Courtney. “I can invite the JSA and Cameron.”

“Great!” Barbara smiled before she turned to Nate and Donna. “I hope that’s okay with you guys.”

“Of course it’s okay. We’d love to meet the JSA whoever they are.” Nate said prompting Donna to nod in agreement.

“Despite the differences I have with my mother, she taught me it is always nice to meet others.”

“Awesome, well, I’ll create a menu and we’ll go from there. Are there any allergies I need to know about?” Barbara asked.

“No, none. Thank you so much for this, Barbara. It means so much to us.” Nate said.

Barbara nodded.

Courtney reached down and picked up at her backpack before she stood up, swinging her bag over her shoulder. “Ready?”

“Yep. Let’s go.” Donna said as she lead the way to the door.

* * *

The trip to school was much better than Courtney could’ve predicted. Donna didn’t pry into her private life like her mom or Pat would have. It was nice to talk to someone who had no ties to her family whatsoever.

“So, is being an Amazon any different to be a full on human?” Courtney found herself asking as she and Donna stopped at a crossing to allow pedestrians to cross in the middle of town.

“Not really,” Donna said casually. “We’re just immune to things ordinary humans aren’t.”

“Does that mean you have faster reflexes?”

“Sure does. However, Amazons are not immortal. They can die the same ways a mortal can.”

Courtney frowned. “But, you’re an Amazon.”

“Yes, but I’m half-god too, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologise. It’s easy to forget this stuff. Hades, I’ve been alive 5000 years and I forget stuff all the time. It drives Nate, my sisters, and of course my mother mad.”

“You haven’t mentioned your mother. You’ve said you’ve got two sisters and Nate is clearly crazy about you.”

Donna chuckled. “Like Cameron’s crazy about you?”

Courtney flushed a deep shade of red. “Is that obvious?”

“Kinda. You’re just as crazy about him.”

Courtney could feel her face go red.

Donna chuckled. “I know when I see it, Courtney. What you and Cameron have is more than real.”

“He means so much to me,” Courtney said, unable to stop the words from falling from her mouth. “The last six months have been the best and it’s because of him.”

Donna could hear the love and admiration in the teenager’s voice as plainly as if it were Iris saying something similar to Barry. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Cameron’s dad. Who is he?”

Courtney thought she’d swallowed a knife blade as her throat suddenly felt raw. “His name is Jordan and he’s Icicle.”

There was silence from Donna for a moment before she spoke again. “On my Earth, my friend Caitlin’s dad had a double persona like she does and his second personality referred to himself as Icicle as well.”

“You have a friend who has a double persona?” Courtney felt a wave of relief flood over her as the conversation moved away from Cameron.

“Mmhmm. See, her dad had been diagnosed with ALS and since it is a genetic disorder, she had to be tested for it. Anyway, it turned out she had it and her father, Thomas tried to find a cure for it and tested it on her and himself but it didn’t go the way he planned. They both ended up with a…” Donna paused, not sure how to explain it. “You’ve heard of people who have multiple personalities, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, Caitlin has exactly that. She has her normal personality, then she has Frost who is her icy persona.”

“So… she basically has two people living in the same body?” Courtney guessed.

“Essentially, yeah. There was a time where Frost was actually evil and took over Caitlin’s body.”

“Whoa. What about her dad?”

“I wasn’t around for that part, but from what Cisco, her best friend has said, Icicle took over Thomas’ body and the original personality couldn’t maintain control because his evil persona didn’t want to give it up.”

Courtney wasn’t sure what to say to that. She didn’t want to add more fuel to an already raging fire with Jordan. She knew Cameron hated talking about the subject of his dad and his grandparents, but he would if he had to. Perhaps talking to someone who didn’t know the full story might help. She decided to push it to the back of her mind as she didn’t want to force it.

“Why do you ask?” Donna asked curiously.

“It’s just that Jordan is nice one second but then awful the next.”

Donna thought for a moment. “Does he sound like himself when he’s the Ice man?”

“Yeah.”

“Then he doesn’t have a second a second personality. He’s just projecting his true colours. A person can have more than one side.”

“Like Sam.” Courtney murmured more to herself than to Donna.

“Sam?”

Courtney’s head shot up. “You heard me?”

Donna nodded. “Yes, I heard you. I know we only met like 18 hours ago, but have you gotten bad vibes from me so far?”

Courtney shook her head. “No.”

“If you ever need to talk to someone who isn’t in the know of what’s been going on in your life, I’m your girl.”

Courtney could see Donna was being truthful. She could sense it. Perhaps it was a good idea to talk about Sam and what had happened. “Are you sure you really wanna know?”

“It’s your story.”

“I think I need to let all this out. I mean, my friends know, but it would be nice to vent to someone else.”

"Have at it.”

“Six months ago, I came face-to-face with my biological father for the first time in ten years. I had so many expectations and for awhile, I thought I was Starman’s daughter.”

“Starman? As in…”

“My predecessor. It’s a long story, but when I laid eyes on Sam, my gut kept telling me that he wasn’t my dad.”

“But he was.”

Courtney sniffed as tears threatened to fall down her face. “Pat and my mom kept telling me that Starman wasn’t my father, but I didn’t listen to them and my heart got broken.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Donna said reaching out to take the teenager’s hand. “I am so sorry you had to go through that. I know exactly how you feel.”

Courtney wiped her eyes on he sleeve of her shirt. “You do?”

“Yeah, I do. My father, Zeus was never around. Not for me. Not for Diana. Not for Cassie. For the longest time, I hoped and prayed that he would show up and shower at least Diana in love, but it never came. I remember going to my grandmother, the Titaness Rhea for advice and all she gave me was the same speech my mother had given Diana and I when we were little girls. Zeus was a deadbeat who didn’t care about _any_ of his children not born to his wife Hera.”

“Hera? As in the Queen of the Olympian gods Hera?”

“The exact same. Wow, you know your Greek myth.”

Courtney managed a watery smile. “Like I told you last night, I don’t really know that much. But, given my boyfriend _is_ super into art, I need to keep on top of artistic style, I guess you could call it.”

“Cameron’s an artist?”

Courtney nodded just as the front of Blue Valley High came into view.

Donna felt disappointed as she didn’t want the conversation to end. It felt like talking to Cassie again. Gods, she missed her little sister but she chose not to spoil the morning for Courtney and instead, put on a smile. “I think this is your stop.”

Courtney looked out the window just as the car crawled to a stop. “Wow. You really know what you were talking about when you said you’re good at finding places you’ve never been too.”

Donna chuckled. “Well, one of my godly half-brothers is Hermes, the god of travel… and thievery and a whole bunch of other thingswe won’t go over right now.”

“Thanks for the lift, Donna. I appreciate it.” Courtneysaid as she climbed out of the car and swung her backpack over her shoulder. “See you this afternoon?”

Donna nodded as Courtney waved goodbye and headed into the school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how many times I am going to mention the slow burn and for that, I'm sorry. The chapter will have a bit of JSA in it and a few small things that will set up what's going to happen going forward.


	5. Predicament

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scared for Courtney and his friends, Cameron reveals that his dad threatened his girlfriend's life and by extension those of their friends. Meanwhile, Barbara preps for Donna and Nate's welcome dinner.

As Courtney walked towards her locker, she caught sight of her friends hunched over Rex Tyler’s journal. Then, she spotted Cameron, looking totally shaken. Hurrying towards him, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into a nearby empty classroom.

The move had been so fast that it forced Rick, Yolanda, and Beth to exchange looks.

In the classroom, Courtney hastily closed the door and turned to him. “I got your text. What’s going on? You mentioned something about your dad.”

Cameron shakily turned to her. “He threatened you.”

Courtney frowned as she listened.

“That was all he said. There was nothing to indicate the JSA but it was implied.”

Courtney stepped forward and gently placed her hands on either side of his face, forcing him to look at her. “It’s going to be okay. We’ve gone up against your dad before and won.”

“Barely. I couldn’t think of what would happen if I lost you.”

Courtney’s expression softened. “You’re not gonna lose me or the others. That’s a promise.”

The tender moment was interrupted by the clearing of a throat. The pair turned towards the door to see Beth, Yolanda, and Rick standing in the doorway.

 _Not awkward at all_ , Courtney thought. She and Cameron had been so caught up in their conversation that they hadn’t heard the door open.

“We saw you both come in here,” Yolanda said once Rick had closed the door. “We could see something was bothering you both.”

“Yeah, what’s going on?” Rick asked.

Beth didn’t speak up as the others had basically said what she had wanted to.

“We’ve got a problem.” Courtney said.

“What kind of problem?” Beth asked. She was almost bouncing on her heels, eager to put on her Doctor Mid-Nite goggles and have Chuck help them out.

“Jordan threatened me.”

“That son of a bitch.” Rick muttered, earning himself an elbowing from Yolanda.

“If I know my dad,” said Cameron. “It wasn’t just a threat directed at Courtney. It was against all of you.”

“What about you?” Beth questioned, her hands tightening on the straps of her backpack. “You’re Icicle’s son and he knows about your link to us.”

“Beth’s got a point,” Rick said. “Jordan’s not exactly the type to leave anyone out in his threats.”

“I can handle myself when it comes to my dad,” Cameron didn’t want to come off as too confident, but he didn’t think his father would kill him or seriously hurt him. “My dad created Project: New America as a promise to my mom. You might’ve stopped it, but he’s not going to harm me as he thinks he’s doing me a favour by making the country safer for the next generation.”

Rick clenched his jaw. He was fighting back what he wanted to say next which was going to be an insult but he could feel Beth’s eyes on him, so he decided to keep his mouth shut.  
“It didn’t help all those adults that got their minds taken over.” Yolanda said, in reference to Cameron’s earlier comment about Project: New America being about making the world better for the kids of the previous generation.

“Jordan’s still pissed that Cameron chose Courtney over his plan.” Rick said folding his arms.

“What do we do now?” Beth asked. “We have to look into this threat before it gets out of hand.”

“Agreed.” Rick said, a little too quickly.

Courtney, who hadn’t spoken since the others had entered the room, spoke up. “Guys, I appreciate the concern, but Jordan’s not going to do anything with the ISA.”

“Yeah, most of which are rotting in jail.” Rick spoke up.

“Yes,” Courtney started, her words slow deliberate. She didn’t want to risk setting Rick off. “That is true, but we need to be smart about this. We need to know more. However, we can’t do that while we’re still walking on eggshells.” She wanted to slap herself. Who ever said ‘walking on eggshells’?

“How are we going to do that?” Yolanda questioned. “The ISA has been gone six months.”

Courtney had to think for a moment. “We’re not going to get anywhere right now. We need to gather our strength and come up with a plan. Actually, this morning my mom just gave me a great idea.”

“Ooh,” Beth said, sounding immediately interested. “What were you thinking?”

“Mom suggested a dinner with all of us including her, Pat, and Mike,” Courtney paused to exchange a knowing look with Cameron. “And two guests.”

Rick, Yolanda, and Beth looked at each other, mystified.

“Guests?” Yolanda questioned.

Before either Courtney or Cameron could answer, the bell for first period rang.

“We’ll explain at lunch.” Cameron said with a grin.

Yolanda and Rick turned towards the door with Beth not far behind. She stopped when she realised Courtney and Cameron hadn’t started to follow.

“Court, Cam, you guys coming?”

Courtney grinned. “Give us a moment, Beth.”

Beth issued affirmative smile before she followed Rick out into the hall.

Once Beth was out of earshot, Courtney turned back to Cameron, her hands returning to either side of his face. “Promise me you’ll be cautious around your dad?”

Cameron bit his lip before nodding. “I can try.”

“That’s all I ask.” Courtney reached up to kiss him on the forehead.

Letting down of his face, Courtney reached down and took his hand. He gave her a small smile before he lead her out of the room.

* * *

Barbara felt like inviting the JSA over for dinner was the right move. She thought of each of Courtney’s friends as a member of the family. She’d seen how much her daughter had struggled to fit in when they first moved to Blue Valley, but she was glad to see she was thriving now. After everything that had happened with the ISA and Sam, she was just glad there was something was finally going right.

A light tapping came at the door. “Come in!”

“Barbara, you busy?” Beth’s dad, James Chapel poked is head into the office.

“James! Come on in. Sorry, I’m just preoccupied planning this dinner.”

James and his wife and Beth’s mother Bridget now knew about their daughter’s superhero antics. They hadn’t been too impressed that she was risking her life, but they’d come around after Beth had introduced them to Chuck.

Since Jordan had been refined to the house and could not interact with anyone he had once worked with The American Dream as part of his court order, James had agreed to take over the business and turn it into something that wasn’t going to allow people’s minds to be taken over.

“Dinner? JSA business I take it?”

“Yeah,” Barbara sighed as she put her pen down. “Pat’s given me a load of recipes to choose from but I just can’t decide what would be best.”

“I’ve got some time until my next meeting. I’d be more than happy to help you choose your meals.”

“That would be amazing, thank you.” Barbara breathed a sigh of relief.

“Of course,” James nodded. “I wouldn’t be a very good boss if I didn’t help my colleagues out.”

For a moment, James and Barbara were totally silent as they sorted through the bunch of recipes that Pat had given his wife to choose from.

“So, why the sudden dinner party?” James asked, breaking the silence.

“We have two new house guests from another Earth.”

James had seen a lot of strange things in the last six months but house guests from another Earth was the strangest he’d heard yet. “Another Earth? That’s a new one.”

“It didn’t surprise Pat.” Barbara said as she stacked her recipe cards. “According to him, McNider had theorised the were other Earths out there. He just couldn’t prove it.”

“McNider…” James pondered on that name. “Chuck. The AI in Beth’s goggles is an AI copy of the _real_ Charles McNider, right?”

“That’s right. Man, you’re struggling with this whole superhero gig too, huh?”

James chuckled. “It was a little hard to swallow that my daughter was running around in a cape and goggles, but I’m just glad she found friends.”

“I agree. I mean, I came so close to divorcing Pat, but I realised that he was the best thing to happen mine and Courtney’s lives since… well, forever.”

James issued a small smile. “Well, Pat and Cameron.”

Barbara perked up. “Yes. Cameron has been so good for Courtney.”

“He’s a good kid,” James agreed. “He and Beth were rather close pair when they were younger.”

“Beth and Cameron went to elementary school together?”

“Sure did. Beth use to sit and watch Cameron draw. When Christine died, Beth was Cameron’s rock.” James explained.

“Wow. I didn’t know how deep Cameron and Beth’s friendship ran.”

“Very few people do. I think even those kids have forgotten it.” James said as he placed his most recent stack of recipe cards.

Barbara stopped shuffling the cards in her hands. “James?”

“Hmm?”

“Why would Christine Mahkent want to make America a better place for Cameron by allowing Brainwave to take over the minds of million people?”

James looked up at her and sighed. “I wish I knew. The woman I knew and called a friend wasn’t the type of person who would back down from anything. When she started getting sick, her perception of the world changed. It was like a switch had been flipped and she started to sprouting all these… thoughts.”

“How do you mean?”

“They sounded almost… cultish. I know that sounds strange.”

“Not at all. My daughter wields a glowing stick that has a mind of its own. That’s probably the crazy thing I’ve in the last six months.”

“What about our boss turning full ice psycho and trying to take over half the country?”

“That too.”

“I just cannot believe that Jordan was using the American Dream as a cover for something so malicious.” James sighed.

Barbara found she could say nothing that would make anything better. She had formed a bond with Jordan, and she could’ve sworn there were some ‘romantic’ feelings beginning to rise, but when Courtney had told her he was a murderer who had killed Pat’s best friend, she hadn’t wanted to believe it. However, she followed her gut and had secretly recorded Lily and Sofus, Jordan’s parents when they were speaking Norwegian after the dinner party she had thrown to get to know the Mahkents better.

It was here that her suspicions about Jordan having feelings for her had been confirmed. However, she and Pat had also discovered that the ISA been building a machine. At the time they didn’t know what it was for, but it did not take them very long to work it out.

“Jordan was such a nice guy. Dedicated to his job and wanting to make the the town a better place for the next generation. He was also a devoted father to Cameron. He use to joke that his son would have a very different idea of how the business should’ve been run.” Barbara shook her head.

“How _is_ Cameron coping with everything? He’s dating your daughter, right?” James asked.

Barbara nodded. “Yeah, I mean he’s taking it better than I could’ve expected him too, but I can’t imagine what keeps running through his mind. He’s already lost his mother. Then, he had to find out his father was killing people in revenge and that his grandparents knew about it.”

“Poor kid,” James said. He did feel sorry for the boy. “At least he has Courtney to lean on.”

“I agree,” said Barbara. “She’s been so supportive and so have the other kids.”

“They’re all great kids. I remember Beth saying that Cameron has powers like his dad. Is that true?”

“Yeah. That’s very true. He’s been very careful with how he uses them. Courtney and Pat have been trying to help him control them. It’s beautiful to watch.”

“Courtney must have a real impact on Cameron for him not to have fallen down the same path as his father.”

“Yeah, she’s incredible. I’ve never seen her so patient with anything. I think showing Cameron the ropes of being a superhero has given her something to focus on since everything that’s happened with the ISA and Sam.”

Beth had told her dad that Courtney’s biological father, Sam Kurtis had showed up wanting his daughter’s locket to sell. James had the impression that the guy was a total asshole. He, of course, was too polite to say that.

“Beth mentioned your ex-partner showed up. Must have been a shock to see him after so many years.”

“I was kinda to blame for that,” Barbara admitted. When caught James’ frown, she decided to elaborate. “When Courtney started going on about how Starman was her father and that Jordan was evil, I decided to contact Sam and I didn’t realise he’d gotten back to me. However, he showed up after eleven years only to break our daughter’s heart.”

“The guy must really have been terrible.”

“He was. When I told him I was pregnant with Courtney, he claimed he wanted to be there, but something kept telling me not dump him and raise the baby alone. Sam said he could change and I naively believed him. When he didn’t show up for Christmas the year Court turned five, I knew he was gone. For a year I tried to contact him but never got a response.”

“Did he contribute financially?”

Barbara clenched her jaw and shook her head. “No. Not one cent.”

James reached across the table and took her hand. “I am so sorry you had to endure that.”

“Thanks.” Barbara gave him a tight lipped smile. “You know, you and Bridget are welcome to to join us at dinner tonight.”

James smiled and chuckled. “As tempting as that sounds, Bridget and I actually already have plans tonight, but I hope the offer stands for another night.”

“Of course it does. You’re both honorary members of the JSA and we love having you both around.”

Before James could issue a response he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Pulling it out, he saw he had a message from his wife. “It’s Bridget. I’ve gotta take this but good luck with the dinner, Barbara.”

Barbara nodded and watched as her new boss left the office. Once she was alone, she leaned forward to see the pile of recipe cards that James had been sorting through. She found he had selected four cards; Cobb Salad, Chicken Carbonara, Deep Fried Chocolate Ice cream cake, and Pat’s famous dumplings.

 _Looks like I know what recipes to send to Pat,_ Barbara thought with a smile before she turned to her computer to send an email to her husband.

* * *

Lunchtime came much quicker than Courtney would’ve liked. Now, she strode towards the JSA’s normal lunch table with her lunch in hand. She was going to have to tell them about Donna and Nate but how could she do it without telling them everything she about them so far? She bit her lip as she headed close to her destination.

As people passed her, she could see Beth sitting at the table with Cameron, watching him draw on a napkin. Rick and Yolanda hadn’t arrived yet.

“Hey!” Cameron greeted with a smile.

“Hey, Court!” Beth smiled.

“Hi,” Courtney said brightly as she sat her tray down before she physically sat down. “You would believe the homework I got in chemistry.”

“That bad?” Cameron asked as he moved around the table so he was sitting next to her.

“Yeah. I’m going to be driving myself crazy for a week trying work out what half the formulas mean.”

“I’m glad I didn’t take chemistry this year,” said Bethas she opened her container of salad. “I don’t know how you do it.”

“Beth,” Cameron chuckled. “You have a 4.4 weighted GPA. You’re basically a brain.”

“I agree with that,” Courtney said as she opened her bottle of cranberry juice. Once she’d done that, she lightly elbowed Cameron to get his attention. “Remember, we need to ask Rick about that thing.”

“Oh, right.” It took a second for him to work out what she was talking about.

“You two have been speaking in code all morning,” said Beth. “What’s going on?”

Cameron and Courtney went to open their mouths to respond when they heard Rick’s voice.

“I’m pretty sure my dad’s journal would’ve mentioned something about Ted Grant’s inability to sharpen his claws.”

A groan that sounded like it had come from Yolanda sounded.

“Hey guys,” Yolanda said. She sounded exhausted as she sat down with her tray of food beside Beth. “Sorry, we’re late. Rick lost his sneakers in gym.”

“It’s not my fault that the replacement gym coach hates my guts.” Rick snapped back.

Yolanda rolled her eyes as she sat down.

 _Good,_ Courtney thought to herself. _Everyone’s here._ “Hey guys, I need to ask all you something.” The JSA and Cameron all turned to look at her. “How would you all feel if my mom and Pat hosted dinner at our place tonight?”

“That’s a great idea,” said Yolanda, grinning. “My parents are out tonight and my grandma’s still on vacation while Alex is at a friend’s so it’ll be just me at home. I could do with some of Pat’s cooking. I’ll be there.”

Cameron took Courtney’s hand under the table. “You know what my answer’s going to be.”

Courtney gave him a grateful look which he gladly returned.

“What about you, Rick?” Courtney asked.

“Sure. Any excuse to get away from my uncle’s drinking and blaming me for everything.”

“Beth?” Cameron said, drawing Doctor Mid-Nite’s successor’s attention away from her lunch. “What about you?”

“Of course, I’ll be there. My parents have plans tonight anyway and it’ll give me an excuse to pretend I’ve done my homework.”

Yolanda let out a fake gasp. “Beth Chapel not doing her homework? Oh, my!”

The others did their best not to laugh.

“Hey, I’ve got a high GPA as Cameron so kindly pointed out before you and Rick got here. I thinkI can manage _one_ night without homework.”

The playful grin fell from Yolanda’s face.

“Great!” Courtney said with a grin. “I’ll just let my parents know you’re all coming!” With that, she pulled out her phone and sent a group text to her parents.

“Can I just ask one question?” Yolanda questioned.

“Yeah, sure.” Courtney said as she hit send.

“Why the sudden dinner?”

Courtney pressed her lips together as she exchanged looked with Cameron who knew exactly what she was thinking. They to tell them about the newest residents of Blue Valley.

“You know how we were out last night?” Courtney said, her words slow as she tried to think of a way to make the conversation as uncomplicated as possible. When the others nodded, she continued. “Well, as we were headed out of the cinema, we found two unconscious people on the side of the road.”

“What?” Beth exclaimed a little louder than she should have, forcing Rick to clamp a hand over her mouth.

“Okay, this suddenly got creepy,” Yolanda said. “Why were there two people knocked out? You sure they didn’t stumble out of the diner drunk?”

“Positive,” said Cameron. “There’s more to this story than just two unconscious people.”

“Like what?” Rick questioned as he picked at his food.

Courtney looked around to see if there was anyone listening in. When she was saw it was safe, she leaned in, prompting the JSA and her boyfriend to do the same. “One of the people, the woman had bronze blood.”

There was total silence.

“Are you serious?” Rick asked. “Bronze blood? Sounds like something from a horror movie.”

“It was a little creepy, but it turns out she is an Amazon.”

“An Amazon?” Yolanda said incredulously. “As in the women who were created by the Greek gods?”

Courtney and Cameron exchanged wide-eyed looks before nodding.

“What about the second person?” Beth asked. “Were they okay?”

“Oh, he was fine. Unlike his wife, he wasn’t bleeding.” Courtney said humbly.

“How did they end up on the side of the road?” Rick asked.

“That’s what we’re unclear about,” Cameron admitted sheepishly. “We’re hoping we can fid out more about them.”

“Did they wake up?”

“Yeah, they work up and the woman almost attacked us with a golden lasso.” Courtney said awkwardly.

Each member of the JSA looked at each other before they turned their stares of surprise on their leader.

“Wait… that loop of rope hanging from Donna’s belt was a lasso?”

Courtney nodded, not knowing what to say next.

“How much damage can a lasso do?” Rick questioned. “It’s just rope.”

“Not this one,” Courtney thought she was going to throw up at the idea of Donna doing something lethal with her preferred weapon. “It’s enchanted to make people tell the truth. I know that sounds weird but I spoke to her and her husband, Nathaniel last night and we were very upfront about the weapons but there was something else I got from them.”

“What?” Cameron was genuinely curious.

“That’s just the thing, I’m not sure.”

“What do you mean, you’re not sure?” Rick was getting annoyed now.

“There was like an air to them like they had seen things we’d only dream of seeing.”

“Like what? The beginning of time?” Rick snorted.

“A few thousand years on Donna’s side given she’s also half-god. Nate is just a regular human from what I know.”

Cameron chuckled as he wrapped an arm around Courtney’s shoulders. “To a normal person you would sound crazy.”

“We’d love to meet them,” Beth said, speaking on behalf of Rick and Yolanda. “What time?”

“Ah, I’m not…” she trailed off when her phone vibrated on the table. “That’s mom. She says about 6. That okay with you guys?”

The group nodded.

“There is something else we’ve been meaning to ask,” Cameron said after a moment of silence. He turned to Rick. “Rick, does your dad’s journal mention anything about other Earths?”

This got Rick’s attention. “Other Earths? There’s a such a thing?”

“Apparently,” said Courtney as she slipped her phone back into her backpack. “Nate and Donna are from another Earth. They didn’t specify where, though.”

“I’ve been through my dad’s journal several times and didn’t see anything, but I can have another look.”

Rick reached down and pulled Rex’s journal out of his backpack. The notebook was littered with removable plastic bookmark tabs in different colours for all the different sections. He flicked through it before placing the book down on the table and sliding it to the middle for the group to see. “I can not believe I missed this.”

The handwriting for the section, ‘Earths’ didn’t match Rex’s. Instead, it looked liked someone else’s.

“That’s someone else’s handwriting,” Cameron said with a frown. “Whose is it?” He looked over at Beth. “Beth?”

Beth didn’t take her eyes off the notebook as she pulled out her goggles. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she activated the camera mode and took a quick photo before putting them back in her bag. “I took a photo. If Chuck finds him, he’ll send my tablet a notification.”

Before anyone else could say anything else, the bell rang.

A chorus of groans sounded from the JSA.

“Back to learning we go,” Yolanda said, rolling her eyes and moving to stand, taking her finished tray back to the tray return. “I’ll you guys later.” She waved her goodbyes to her friends and headed for the exit.

“I’ve got a meeting for Mrs Spitz about my upcoming art assignment,” Cameron said. “I’ll see you later.” He kissed Courtney on the cheek before grabbing his backpack and picking up his tray to return it. He nodded goodbye to Rick and Beth and headed off.

“Looks like we’ve got Greek Studies,” said Beth. “Should be more exciting now that we’re going to be teaming up with a half-god.” She was almost bouncing in her seat.

Courtney and Rick looked at each other but didn’t want to burst her bubble.

“No one ever said anything about us teaming up with the half-god.” Rick said he gathered his, Beth, and Courtney’s trays up as he got to his feet.

Courtney knew that Rick was likely to blow a gasket if Beth kept saying things. “Come on, guys. Let’s get to class before the teacher threatens to cut our heads off again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Fun fact: Henry Junior was going to appear in this chapter but given his demise in the Brainwave Jr episode, I decided against it. However, there will be a plot point later that includes him. I was also going to include Jenny as kind of a hint to her potentially being Jade but it just didn't fit with the JSA part of the narrative so I decided to hold off on including her until later.


	6. Dinnertime Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the JSA dinner party but it doesn't stop Donna and Nate from having a bit of fun with their new friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to note that I forgot to mention in the end note on the last chapter that there I added a very subtle nod to the animated Harley Quinn series. It wasn't intentional, but I liked the idea to the point of adding.
> 
> I also wanted to point out that I started this story long before the Season 1 finale and when we didn't know who was going to live or die. I had planned on trying to keep the story as close to canon as I could from what's already happened in the show, but a few things in this story will be slightly different like Jordan still being alive in the story when he got hit by Mike in the show. Then there's the whole thing with Sylvester still being alive in the show. I'll find a way to explain these things when they come up.
> 
> There are also mentions of events that are DCEU related. I just want to stress that the DCEU is NOT part of this story at all. I've had to tweak some of them to fit the narrative for this story. Also, I want to apologise for this new chapter being so late. I've had every intention of finishing it but work has bee crazy with the film portion of DC Fandome and other things. I hope this chapter was worth the wait.

Pat and Mike were in the kitchen preparing for dinner when Nate walked in.

“Smells awesome, fellas.”

“Don’t thank me,” said Mike as he frowned down at his troublesome homework. “Thank Barb. She chose the menu.”

“Actually,” said Pat as he put cut up the chicken for the dumplings. “It was all James Chapel. He helped her choose what we’re eating tonight.”

“James Chapel…” Nate mused before he remembered the conversation from that morning. “Oh! His daughter is friends with Courtney and Cameron, right?”

“Yep.” Mike said as he continued to work.

Pat looked over his shoulder at his son and sighed. “Sorry about this, Nate.”

“Why are you apologising?” Nate looked confused.

Pat took another look over at Mike before he lowered his voice. “Mike’s been struggling since the ISA tried to take over. Sure, he’s accepted Courtney and I are superheroes but we almost died. I think he’s still scared thatif something happens to us and Barbara, he’ll be alone. I hate seeing him this way.”

Nate thought for a moment. “Do you want me to talk to him?”

“I wouldn’t want you to go out of your way for nothing.”

“It’s no problem. I’ve counselled some of my friends back on Earth-Prime. Hell, my mom thought it might be my career someday.”

Pat gave him a grateful smile. “I really appreciate it, Nate.”

Nate nodded before he looked over at Mike. “Hey Mike, do you wanna talk?"

“Not really.” Mike said in a tone that was all too familiar. It reminded Nate of how Cassie sounded when she got into a disagreement with her mother and refused to talk about it with anyone.

Nate was determined not to give up. “Mike, I know what you’re going through.”

Mike’s head shot up, anger burning in his eyes. “Do you? Or are you just everyone else?”

Nate knew _exactly_ what he was talking about, but decided it was best to not allude to it. “I know we’ve known each other less than a day, but maybe talking about your fear of losing your family might help you.”

Mike bowed his head, biting his lip as he did so. The moment seemed to go on forever, but not before he mulled over his choices. He could either tell this stranger about his insecurities and fears, or he could allow his father’s eyes to burn a hole through the back of his head until he addressed the issue. “Fine. I’ll talk.”

Nate nodded as he sat down beside the boy at the counter. “I’m not going to talk. I’m just going to listen. You can say whatever you want. Just pretend your dad’s not here.” Mike’s eyes darted to his father who nodded before turning his attention back to preparing dinner.

“I’ve been through a lot in my life and for a long time, it was just me and dad against the world. When he met and married Barbara, everything kinda changed. We stopped moving around which I was happy about and I gained a new mom and for the first ever, a sibling in Courtney. However, when Court started spending so much time with dad, I started to feel jealous of the connection they’d developed. Part me felt that she was taking him away from me so I lashed out at her. I don’t normally apologise for anything, but when she got hurt, I thought I needed to. If anything happened to her then I would feel terrible. Sure, we fight, but that’s what siblings, do right? Anyway, when dad and Barbara got into that massive fight about Jordan, I found that out later by the way, I thought I was losing my new family. I was scared so I lashed out at Courtney again because I knew she never wanted me or my dad around. Then all the stuff with the ISA happened and when it was over, I realised that I had to stop acting out and pretending I was okay when I wasn’t. Dad and Courtney put their lives on the line so Blue Valley and god, the whole world could be safe. I guess, I’m just never going to be be able to accept that two of the most important people in my life could be taken away from me.” Tears started to well in Mike’s eyes.

Nate could see that the kid had developed an incredibly thick skin over the years and didn’t cry as often as he should. He could also see how much Mike was struggling with the idea of his father and stepsister potentially dying. Knowing what to say, the meta human wrapped and around around the boy’s shaking shoulders, embracing him. “It’s okay Mike. Just cry it out. I’m here. You know, it’s perfectly okay to have a thick skin, but it’s also fine to show your emotions.”

“That’s not something I do a lot,” Mike hiccuped as he rested his head on Nate’s shoulder. “I thought if I kept my emotions inside, I would be okay.”

Nate rested his head against Mike’s as he wrapped his arm, trying to calm him down. “Keeping your emotions bottled up is _never_ okay. They’re just going to keep building until you explode. Take it from someone who works with superheroes on a daily basis. It’s clear how much you care for Courtney and your dad and stepmom. But, do you know what the most important thing is when your family are supers?”

Mike shook his head.

“The most important thing is to have faith that they’re going to come home. Take it from someone who _is_ a superhero. I’m also married to one, my sisters-in-law are all heroes, so is my half-brother and my best friends. All their families live with the built in fear that they’re never going to come home, but Mike,” Nate paused for effect. “You need to share your emotions with others. Yes, it will be hard, but everyone is going to understand. They will have felt the same way at one time or another. Being tough doesn’t mean you need to hide your emotions. Okay? Think you can spend a bit of time opening up to people more?”

Mike nodded. “I-I think I can do that.”

“Good man, now how about we help your dad with dinner, hey?” Nate offered the kid a smile which he gladly returned.

* * *

Courtney arrived home from school to see Pat, Mike, and Nate all helping in the cooking. It was a nice thing to see as she walked in. “Afternoon boys. Wow dinner smells amazing.”

“Hey Court,” Mike greeted as he dumped a handful of chopped carrot into the pot. “You took your time in getting home.”

“Beth and Yolanda were throwing questions at me about Nate and Donna to the point I couldn’t avoid them.”

Nate turned from loading the dishwasher. “Are my wife and I really that interesting?” He teased.

“I told them as much as I could without giving too much away.” Courtney told him. “Anyway, I better go get ready for dinner.” She turned and left the kitchen without another word.

Nate didn’t have a chance to respond to that. “Ahh… should I be worried?”

Pat and Mike looked at each other before turning to look at Nate, shaking their heads.

“No reason, don’t worry. I think she just wants tonight to go well.” Pat said as he pushed the chopping board to his son.

Footsteps sounded and Donna walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. “Wow. Everything smells amazing. Bets pot stickers.”

“What’s wrong with pot stickers?” Mike asked.

“One of my dearest friends, Kara is OBSESSED with them.” Donna said.

“Well, that and pizza.” Nate countered.

“Oh, yes. Can’t forget the pizza. She would eat both as her own sources of food if she was allowed.” Donna said rolling her eyes.

Pat smiled as he set down the down the knife. “You two must be pretty good friends with this Kara person to make fun of her favourite foods.”

“Kara doesn’t mind. Her sister teases her about it all the time. They fight over who eats the last pot sticker.” Nate said fondly. “It’s actually quite funny.”

“I’ll go up and check on Courtney.” Donna said as she turned back the way she had come.

She took the stairs two at the time and followed the hall along until she reached Courtney’s bedroom door. She knocked three times. “Courtney? It’s Donna. Can I come in?”

After a moment, the door opened to reveal a rather rattled looking Courtney. “Sure. Sorry for the mess.”

Donna entered the room, allowing Courtney to close the door behind her. She looked around to see a bunch of clothing laying on the bed. “What’s going on here?”

Courtney groaned. “I want tonight to go really well, but how can I do that when I can’t decide on what to wear?”

Donna snorted. “That’s what you’re worried about? Not knowing what to wear? Courtney, these are your friends and your boyfriend. They’re not going to care what you wear. If anything, it should be Nate and I were that should matter. We’re your guests after all.”

Courtney shook her head. “It’s not just that. Tonight might be the one chance I have to get Cameron to join the JSA on a full-term basis.” She sat down on her bed, clearly conflicted.

Donna sat beside her, the clothes bouncing slightly. “Isn’t the on a full-time basis already?”

Courtney shook her head again. “No. Over the last six months, we’ve only been out in the field about half a dozen times. The ISA is out of action so there hasn’t been much going on.”

Donna nodded before replying, “So, what you’re saying is, you and your teammates are bored?”

Courtney bit her lip. “Not exactly, but whatever works, right?”

“I don’t think that’s it. I think there’s something else going on. Care to tell me what it is?”

Courtney took a deep breath. “The last six months have been amazing. I finally know who I am. I have the most amazing boyfriend. My friends and family have my back, but something keeps pulling at me, saying I don't deserve to be a superhero.”

Donna reached over and placed a hand on the teenager’s shoulder as the tears started to flow down her face. “I know how hard it must be for you. Remember what you told me this morning about your birth dad showing after so many years?”

Courtney wiped her eyes on the back of her hand as she nodded. “Y-yeah.”

“You go that through that, right? When Sam left, it make you realise that Pat was you true dad, am I correct?”

“Yeah.” Courtney hiccuped.

“Sweetheart, just because you’re having doubts about your superhero future, don’t worry about it. It’s perfectly normal to have doubts. I have them all the time. I don’t know one superhero on my Earth that doesn’t. You know, my friend Kara’s sister, Alex had doubts at one point when it came to her dad.”

“She did? Wait… didn’t you say Alex was Kara’s sister?”

“I did,” Donna nodded once. “Kara was adopted as a teenager. Her bio mom is still alive but is living elsewhere. She didn’t know this for years. Her dad died. She still is in contact with her birth mother but she’s really close to her adoptive mother too. Her adopted dad hasn’t been in her life much. It’s complicated.” She shook her head.

Courtney knew better than to ask questions. She sniffled. “So, it’s normal to feel like I do?”

“Very. Hey, how about I help you finish up here?”

Before Courtney could respond, there was a knock on the door and Mike poked his head in. “Hey, everyone’s here.”

Courtney wiped her eyes again. “Is mom home yet?”

“Not yet. She texted dad a minute ago. Said she might be a bit late.”

“We’ll be down in a minute.” Donna said, giving Mike a smile. He nodded and left the room.

Once Mike had left, Donna turned to Courtney again. “Let’s get you ready.”

Courtney laughed and nodded, feeling much happier after the pep talk she had just been given.

* * *

Courtney jumped down the stars three at a time. She was dressed a simple blue dress the same shade as her Stargirl suit. Donna was a few paces behind her, eager to give her space to greet her friends once she reached the bottom. She stopped a few steps from the bottom just as Courtney jumped into Cameron’s arms.

“Hey, Court.” A boy just a bit taller than Cameron greeted Courtney with a small smile and a hug.

“Hey, Rick.” Courtney responded as she moved to hug the first of two girls with braids hanging in front of her shoulders.

“Hey, Court.” The girl greeted.

To Donna, the girl sounded almost sad, like she had experienced or done something tragic.

“Courtney!” A shrill voice sounded, catching Donna’s attention.

Courtney hugged the second girl who had what looked like a plastic Tupperware container in her hand. “Beth, I thought my text was clear. Pat’s doing the cooking.”

The girl, Beth, smiled. “I know but I was trying to work out what I was going to cook for my parents’ lunches tomorrow and thought…”

“She’s been experimenting.” Rick commented before Beth could finish her sentence.

“Yeah. That.” Beth giggled.

“What did you make?” Cameron asked.

“A new style pasta bake using all different types of pasta and spaghetti.”

“That’s a new one.” The girl with the braids snorted in amusement.

“It certainly is,” Donna had decided to make herself known. “I would never have thought to use spaghetti.” She turned to Cameron. “Hey, Cameron.”

“Hey Donna,” Cameron grinned as he hugged her. “How’s the head?”

“No damage done. I heal pretty fast.”

“Donna, allow us to introduce Rick,” Courtney said, gesturing to each of her friends. “Beth and Yolanda.”

“Hi, it’s lovely to meet you guys. Courtney’s told me a lot about you all.”

“Courtney and Cameron haven’t told us much about you at all,” Rick said, aiming his comment at his two loved up friends. “It’s nice nonetheless.” He added the last part to appease Beth who was likely to elbow him and tell him not to antagonise their new friend. That was the last thing he needed right now, a verbal tongue lashing from Beth.

The front door opened and Barbara hurried inside. “Hey! I am _so_ sorry I’m late. It was crazy at work this afternoon.”

“Mom, you’re just in time.”

“Hi, Mrs Whitmore!” Beth greet with an overly enthusiastic wave.

Barbara chuckled. “Hi Beth. Hi everyone.”

“Hi Barbara,” Yolanda said, her tone hollow. “Thank you for having us.”

“It’s my pleasure. You’re always welcome here.”

_“Honey! Help!”_

The group turned to see a rather frazzled looking Nate walk out of the kitchen, his face covered in.. soot? His hair was sticking up in all directions.

“Nate! What happened?” Barbara asked as she hurried over to him and wiped some of the soot from his face with her hand.

“You do not wanna know.” Nate said, almost in a haze.

“Please don’t tell me you managed to blow up Pat and Barbara’s kitchen.” Donna said, alarmed.

“No, not blowy uppy, but dessert is ruined.”

Donna groaned. “Never letting you be in charge of dessert _ever_ again, darling.”

“I think that’s fair.” Nate then turned his attention on the kids. “Hey! Welcome.”

Donna turned from her husband to the guests. “Kids, meet the guy who blew up dessert, my husband, Nathaniel.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr Schott.” Beth said brightly. “I’m Beth.”

“Please, call me Nate. Mister Schott was my dad,” Nate lowered his voice and muttered. “Unfortunately.”

Donna gave him a sympathetic smile.

Twenty minutes later, the group of ten were gathered around the table. It was a little cramped but it felt like home. There was plenty of laughter to around and loads of food that would probably sit in the fridge for a few days as leftovers.

“So, Yolanda,” Nate said, trying to get the new Wildcat to open up a bit. She’d been quiet since Barbara and Pat had put the food on the table.She looked up, surprised that she’s been addressed. “From what I can of your knuckles,” Nate pointed to her hands. “You’re a boxer, huh?”

Yolanda pulled her hands back and placed them on her lap out of sight. “How did you know that?”

Nate raised his own hands, revealing the scarred skin of his hands.

“You box too?” Yolanda’s said, her eyes widening in surprise.

Nate nodded. “I don’t do it as often as you probably do, but I do it to keep my mind and my powers sharp.”

This got everyone at the table’s attention.

“You’ve got powers?” Courtney asked with a frown.

Donna looked over at her husband, prompting him to continue.

“Yeah. I’m a metahuman.”

“A meta… what?” Rick was the one who spoke.

Donna bit her lip as she tried to find a way to explain it without it sounding like a massive jumble of words. “A metahuman is someone who is given powers from a third party.”

“Or in my case, I was born with powers.” Nate added.

“Like Brainwave and Henry.” Courtney mused to more herself than anyone.

“Nate, hon, why don’t you explain a bit further?”

Nate was thoughtful for a moment before deciding how he was going to proceed. “Prior to Crisis on Infinite Earths, which is another story within itself, I was born without powers. I got my abilities during a freak accident while I was in Central City a few years back. But, since Crisis happened,I am discovering that prior the accident that gave me my powers originally, there were some people who were born with meta abilities and passed them down to their children. My birth mother was one of them. She had powers and then when she had me, she discovered that I had abilities too when stuff started going missing in our living room and we couldn’t explain it.”

“So, you’re saying meta humans on your Earth existed years before they were meant to be created?” Rick sounded really confused but appeared to let it go.

“That’s one way to describe it, I suppose.” Nate nodded. “I know that sounds weird.”

“Oh, it sounds weird,” Rick said. “But, we’ve heard weirder.”

“Rick’s right,” Said Cameron. “I might be Jordan Mahkent’s son, but…” he paused raising his hand to allow an icy mist to materialise around his hand. “I like to think of my emerging powers as something to embrace. Not something that should be used for evil.”

Donna could sense that he meant something to do with his father, but she decided not to push the subject. It was clearly bothered him but if he wanted to advice, he would ask for it.

“Very wise. My grandmother often told my sisters and I simpler thing when we came into our powers.” Donna said with a smile.

“You have sisters?” Beth asked. Donna nodded. “What are they like?”

Donna was thoughtful for a moment before she turned to look at Nate who nodded. He reached into the pocket of his jacket pulled out a small disk. He placed it down in front of him and a photo flickered to life. “Meet my sisters.”

The JSA, Cameron, and the Whitmore-Dugans were greeted with a photo of three smiling women. Donna stood out the most as she was in the middle. She was wearing what looked like a futuristic styled tunic and a tiara that didn’t sit on her head but across her forehead. The symbol in the middle of the upside-down triangle looked like a six pointed star.

On Donna’s left was a blonde woman who looked to be the youngest of thethree. Her hair was pushed back from her face in a black headband and she was wearing a black t-shirt with a W styled similarly to the W necklace Donna wore. What stood out the most were her vivid emerald green eyes.

To Donna’s right in the photo was a woman who looked to be a few years old then Donna but the look in her eyes made seem centuries if not millennia older. Though it didn’t appear that way. She too wore a tiara but the star had eight points rather than the six Donna’s did. All that could be seen of her attire was the beginnings of a high necked top of some description.

“Wow, they’re gorgeous.” Barbara said, admiring the photo.

“They’re one of a kind,” Nate said as he looked from Barbara to the photo. “Having a father who is a god tends to bring out good genetics.” His eyes turned Donna who gave him an affectionate look.

“Who’s who?” Cameron asked as Courtney’s head rested upon his shoulder.

“The blonde is Cassandra, Cassie for short. Or Cass, she doesn’t mind which,” Donna said. “She’s my half-sister. We share a father.”

“And the one with black hair?” Pat asked.

“Diana. My big sister.”

“Full sister?” Mike questioned.

“Yes. Same parents and everything.”

“Same powers too, right?” Courtney asked.

“Not exactly.” Donna said.

This response got a load of frowns.

“How do you mean?” Yolanda asked, speaking up for the first time since Donna had addressed her earlier.

Donna’s gaze turned from Yolanda to Mike who was sitting next to the girl. Her eyes dropped to the butter knife that was sitting next to his hand. He seemed to get what she wanted him to do. She watched as he picked it up by the blade.

Pat, having seen his son pick up the knife, felt his eyes widen in horror. “Mike, n—!”

Too late!

Mike had flung the knife in Donna’s direction, the blade turning over handle as it flew towards its target.

Cameron and Courtney didn’t have time to react and neither did anyone else. They all waited for a profanity to sound but nothing came. Instead, they stared wide-eyed at Donna as she raised her hand, her palm facing up. The knife hovered just inches from her.She rolled her wrist, her hand open. The butter knife moved into it, blade first as her fingers closed around it.

Around the table, no one said anything.

Rick and Beth’s jaws hung open.

Yolanda had gone so pale that her cutlery dropped out of her hands, clattering against her plate of half eaten food.

Barbara, Cameron, and Courtney were all at a loss for words.

Mike looked like he wanted to say something but he did the smart thing and kept his mouth shut.

The only person who had not reacted was Nate. He’d seen his wife’s shenanigans before and was unsurprised by her actions.

“Cool.” Mike said, the word falling from his mouth before he could stop it. He turned to see his father glaring up and slammed a hand over his mouth.

“What was that?” Courtney asked.

“Are you telekinetic?” Beth questioned.

Donna didn’t get a chance to respond because a trilling sounded from Beth’s backpack.

“Where’s that sound coming from?” Barbara looked around, confused.

“Sorry,” Beth apologised. “That’s Chuck. I told him to send any information he had on a handwriting sample we found in Rick’s dad’s journal.” She slid her chair back and went to retrieve her tablet.

Donna and Nate looked at each other, obviously confused.

“Who’s Chuck?” Nate asked.

“The AI in Beth’s goggles,” Pat said. “He was built by an old friend of mine. Doctor Charles McNider. He was a detective as well as the founder of the original Justice Society.”

“From what Pat has said,” Barbara said, earning Nate and Donna’s attention. “McNidler lost his sight fighting the… mob, I think.” She looked over at Courtney who nodded.

Beth returned a moment later with what looked to Donna and Nate like a pair of old fashioned flight goggles. “Ah, guys. You’re not going to believe whose handwriting it was in the Rex’s journal.”

“Whose was it?” Cameron asked.

Beth looked at him, her eyes behind her round glasses. “Christine Mahkent. Your mom.”

Cameron felt his skin grow cold. “How is that possible? My mom died when I was young. From what my dad told me, she wanted to the world to pay for giving her cancer.”

“Beth,” Courtney said, turning to her friend. “Is there a chance that Chuck’s analysis is wrong?”

Beth thought for a moment. “I’m still ironing out the bugs from having to reconstruct his programming, so it’s possible but I used the code that I found in McNider’s files in the JSA database. I can have another look but it might take some time.”

“What about a second opinion?” Yolanda suggested. “Surely someone can replicate Cameron’s mom’s handwriting.”

Rick nodded, also thoughtful. “It’s likely. What about comparing it to my mom’s handwriting?”

“That’s good thinking Rick,” Pat praised. “Wendi was known to have different handwriting styles.”

Part of Rick wanted to scream. It appeared that other people knew more about his his parents than he did. However, he’d learned that yelling and screaming wasn’t always the answer.

“We can deal with that in the morning,” Barbara interrupted and breaking the tension that had suddenly formed in the air. “Right now though, let’s just enjoy ourselves.”

Rick was thankful for the intervention. Looking across the table, he could see Cameron was too. Suddenly, something flashed out the corner of his eye. With a frown, he turned his head towards the source and found Max, the Whitmore-Dugan family’s dog chewing on something.

“Ah, Court?”

Courtney looked over at Rick to see that his attention was on Max.

“What is Max chewing on?”

Courtney turned to face the dog, her eyes going wide. “Oh, no!”

Donna, having heard Courtney’s cries looked over to see what she was looking at. A smirk crossed her face as she rose from the table went over to Max before she crouched down to his level. “Hey, buddy. Are you going to give me the lasso?”

Max immediately spat out his new favourite chew toy. He leaned into Donna’s hand when she reached over to pat him.

“Good boy.”

Rising from her position on the floor, Donna raised the lasso. “Just a little dog slobber. No big deal.”

“What is that?” Rick asked as Donna passed him on the way back to the table.

“Why don’t you tell them, hon?” Nate said.

“Very well. This,” Donna held up the lasso. “Is the lasso of truth. Or one of them, at least.”

“It makes you tell the truth?” Beth chimed in.

“Yes,” Donna said, ignoring that she had already said as much. “Who wants to try?”

Silence endured for the moment.

_“I’ll try.”_

All heads turned to Courtney as she pushed her chair back and walked around to Donna before being handed the lasso.

“Don’t worry,” Donna said. “The lasso is free of dog slobber.”

Courtney nodded and walked around the table before she stopped next to Mike.Without thinking about it, she wrapped the lasso around his torso, not giving him time to complain.

“Don’t struggle,” Donna said flatly. “The more you do, the tighter it becomes and you’ll be compelled to tell the truth even more.” This comment earned a few chuckles. Even Yolanda looked amused.

“Okay, now what do I do?” Courtney asked.

“Ask any question.” Nate said.

“Okay. I’ve got a good one,” Courtney smirked. She looked briefly down at Mike before looking over at Cameron who returned her smirk. He knew _exactly_ what she was going to ask. “Have you been using my toothbrush to clean Max’s feet?”

Mike squirmed but felt the power of the lasso wash over him as it grew brighter. It wasn’t as bright as Courtney’s staff, but it was pretty close. “It was me! I used your toothbrush to clean the dog’s feet as well as his teeth.” His eyes widened as the last of his words fell from his mouth.

“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Courtney responded cheekily as she loosened the lasso from around her brother. She gathered it up and handed it to back to Donna.

Beth, Rick, and Cameron did their best not to laugh at Mike’s embarrassment as Courtney returned to her seat.

“Who else wants a go?” Donna said, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

For twenty minutes, laughter rang out as the group tried out the lasso of truth. What was surprising was that there was no mention of potential relationships or where already established relationships were headed in the future. It was just an evening full of fun.

“Okay, who wants to see what my power can do?” Nate said once the laughter had died down.

“What _is_ your power?” Beth asked, brightly.

“I can jump between destinations via a breach in the space-time continuum.” Nate wanted to explain the whole thing in a way that wasn’t complicated.

“How does it work?” Barbara asked.

Nate looked over at Donna who nodded before he turned to focus on the space behind his wife. He raised his hand and pure white void opened up.

“Whoa!” Courtney almost jumped out of her seat in excitement.

Even Yolanda, who hadn’t spoken much during the whole meal perked up. “Where does that go?”

“Who wants to walk through?” Donna asked.

Mike’s hand shot up in the air. “I’ll go!” He rose from his chair when Donna nodded her approval.

“Mike, please be careful, son.” Pat said.

“Is this a good idea?” Cameron questioned. “How do we know he won’t end up in space or some place else?”

“Don’t worry,” Nate said. “I know where he’s going to end up. The whole thing is safe. I’ve done far less advanced breaches than this one.” He turned back to Mike. “When you’re ready, kid.”

Mike took a few steps backward before hehe sprinted towards the breach. The second he entered the breach it closed.

“Where’d he go?” Beth looked from Yolanda to Rick and over the top of Donna’s head.

A moment later, the sound of quickening footsteps could be heard with Mike re-entering the kitchen with a bewildered expression on his face. “That. Was. Awesome! Can we go again?”

Donna smirked. “Sorry, Mike. No can do. Unless you’re in the middle of a battle, breaches are to be used in combat only.”

“No fair.” Mike pouted as he sat back down at the table.

“It’s not _supposed_ to be fair,” said Beth, matter-of-factly. “Having powers is not supposed to be cool or fun. They are for combat uses only. Right, Cam?” She looked over at Cameron who raised his hand, allowing a cold mist to flow freely from his fingers.

“Right.” The mist disappeared and the temperature evened out.

“Wish I was that cool.” Mike muttered.

Courtney wanted to throw something at him, but prevented herself from picking up the salt shaker in front of her and lobbing it at his face. “You’re such a nerd, little brother.” She rolled her eyes.

Next to her, Cameron struggled to keep a straight face. He’d seen how much Mike and Courtney loved riling each other up. It was pretty entertaining seeing them throw metaphorical barbs at each other.

 _“It’s not about being cool. It’s about being safe.”_ Donna said in Latin.

“Whoa!” Beth exclaimed. “Is that… Latin?”

“Latin?” Cameron echoed. “Isn’t that a dead language?”

“Yes. You both have good ears. Latin is considered a dead language but I know every language that has ever existed. My speciality was always been dead languages.”

“You’re an Omnilingualist,“ Cameron concluded, causing everyone at the table to look at him. “What? You’ve never heard of an Omnilingualist before?”

“Wow,” Courtney snorted. “My boyfriend the language nerd.”

“Hush,” Cameron said as he wrapped arm around Courtney’s shoulders and quickly leaned in to kiss her cheek. “Behave.”

 _“I never would have thought of that.”_ Came a voice.

“What was that?” Nate asked.

“Oh, that was Chuck.” Yolanda said.

“Chuck? As in the AI inside the Doctor Mid-Nite goggles?” Donna asked.

“The very same.” Beth was almost giddy with excitement to have her best friend back. “Isn’t that right, best pal?”

 _“Exactly, best pal.”_ Chuck said, sounding incredibly fond of his user.

“That’s pretty adorable.” Barbara said.

“I agree.” Donna nodded. She then turned to Cameron. “Cameron? How did you know what the name of my linguistics ability was called?”

Cameron shrugged liked it didn’t really matter. “I read a lot. I remember seeing the word in a textbook on Greek art I was studying a few months ago. I searched the term in a web search and I instantly had the definition. No big deal.”

Nate chuckled. “No big deal? Of course it is a big deal. You have a brain forGreek culture. To most people, it’s a difficult topic to grapple. I know that from experience. If there was such thing as a male Amazon, you’d be a good fit.”

“Or,” Donna butted in. “You’d make a good scholar that specialises in Greek culture. You’ve certainly got the mind for it.”

Cameron blushed. “Thanks. History has never been my strong point.”

“Don’t be so modest, Cam,” Courtney said. “You’ve gotten the highest grade in Ancient Greek in the last three tests.”

“Really?” Rick said, even he sounded impressed and he hated schoolwork.

“It’s not really an achievement,” Cameron was eager to get off the subject but his companions weren’t ready to give it up just yet.“I try to dabble in different styles of art outside of flowers.”

“You paint floral patterns?” Donna was genuinely surprised.

“Is that weird?” Cameron felt his gut turn over.

Donna shook her head. “No, it’s not. No one person is ever alike. If there’s one thing I have learned during all the time I have spent in Man’s World, it’s to expect the unexpected.”

“Man’s World?” Courtney questioned with a frown.

“Yes, it’s what the Amazons call the world outside Themyscira.” Donna nodded.

“Themyscira is your home, right?” Beth said, silently hoping she was right.

“That’s right. It’s a place of wonder. In my mother’s eyes, it is a paradise free from outside influence and the opposite sex.”

“Wait, there is no men at all?” Barbara was taken aback by Donna’s explanation.

“None whatsoever,” said Nate. “It’s kinda scary really. Women having trained for combat that will probably never come.” His gaze shifted to Donna who lifted her chin.

“The first man to ever step foot on the shores of Themyscira was Steve Trevor who ended up dating Diana during World War I.”

“Wow,” said Pat. “That’s a long time ago.”

“It is.”

* * *

The rest of dinner went by with a laugher and a load full bellies. By about 9pm, the JSA were saying their goodbyes.

“It was really nice meeting you,” Beth said as she hugged Donna and Nate goodbye. “I hope we can do this again.”

“Of course. We’d love that.” Nate said with an honest smile.

“Thanks for sticking up for me before,” Cameron told Donna as he hugged her. “It means a lot.”

“You’re welcome. I know as well as you do that no one meant any offence.” Donna held him at arms length.

“I know. It’s just nice to have someone outside of my friends to back me up.”

Donna gave him a warm, almost maternal smile as she turned to Courtney. “You did a good job tonight. You ought to be proud.”

“I didn’t anything,” Courtney denied. “It was all you, Nate, and your charm.”

Cameron snorted. “I have to wholeheartedly agree.” He wrapped an arm around Courtney’s shoulders and kissed her forehead as he chuckled.

 _“Cam, come on. We’re going in five.”_ Rick called.

Courtney didn’t want the evening to end. She was having too much fun.

“That’s my cue.” Cameron said with a sigh.

“I’ve give you both a moment alone. I’m just gonna say goodbye to the others.” Donna issued a nod and headed over where Yolanda was standing with Rick as he chatted with Pat and Mike.

“I hope you enjoyed yourself, Yolanda.”

“Yeah, I did. I just wanted to apologise for not talking much. I’ve been going through a lot lately.”

“No need to apologise, my darling. Just know that if you ever want to talk about anything, I’m always here.”

Yolanda could tell that Donna was being sincere. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”

The moment was cut short by a groan from Beth.

“What?” Mike said as he turned from his conversation with Rick and his dad.

“Guys, there’s been yet _another_ principal quit Blue Valley High.”

“Another one?” Rick sounded annoyed. “We’ve been through what? Three in the past six months? It’s like the position is cursed. First Principal Bowin is found murdered in this house with a crossbow bolt to the chest and now this.”

“Your school principal was murdered in this house?” Nate frowned.

“Yeah, it was scary,” said Barbara. “Pat said the crossbow bolt belonged to Paula Brooks or Tigress as she is called by the original JSA.”

Nate and Donna exchanged looked but said nothing. They didn’t want their new friends to think they were ungrateful for being there.

“So, what happened with the body?”

“We had to get it removed and the cause of death was disclosed. Let’s just say it didn’t go down well with Bowin’s son.” said Pat.

Cameron nodded. “Isaac was never one of those kids to stand up for himself when he was bullied but something in him just changed.”

“Changed how?” Courtney asked. She didn’tknow Isaac all that well. She’d seen him in the halls before class with his tuba, but she’d never actually spoken to him. From what she’d heard, he’d lashed out at one of Henry King Jr’s former friends who had been calling him a tuba turd and had to tried to kill him with his instrument of choice.

“He became… angry. Remember how his mom was always embarrassing him?”

“Yeah.”

“He just became a totally different person. It was like his grief of losing his mother had just…”

“Overtaken him.” Rick finished, prompting Cameron to nod. “I know that feeling too well. But, we’re not talking about my issues. We’re talking about Isaac.”

Donna and Nate made mental notes to ask about Rick’s past later.

“Then, he joined Cindy Burman.” Yolanda said, darkly.

“Cindy Burman?” Nate frowned.

“Long story short. She’s my arch nemesis. She calls herself Shiv.”

“Oh, wonderful,” Donna stated sarcastically. “What is it with the bad guys always naming themselves?”

“Common occurrence on your Earth?” Pat questioned.

“Yeah,” Nate said, his annoyance obvious. “Our friend Cisco hates it. In his eyes, he’s the name master.”

It was true. Cisco would be beside himself if he’d been told about this. Good thing he wasn’t there.

“It’s going to be a struggle to find a new principal,” said Beth, breaking the silence that had fallen. “Everyone who looks at the job post is going to run a hundred miles in the opposite direction.”

Nate looked over at Donna and saw an expression he hadn’t seen in a while. He wasn’t sure what it was, but something told him that she had an idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank everyone who has read the story so far. I really appreciate it. However, there is something I want to address and that's every message and comment I have gotten asking me when I will be updating. I want to say I do NOT have a set schedule for updates as I have work and my life does not revolve around fanfiction. As annoying as that might sound to all of you dedicated readers out there, please be patient.
> 
> As much as I would love to have a set timeframe for updating the story, I just don't. When I started writing fanfiction at 16 (I'm 26 now), it was a hobby that I never dreamed would become a massive part of my life now with my work now as an Entertainment blogger. In other words, it gave me the stepping stones I needed to get into what I do today.
> 
> There's probably some of you reading this now who think I'm ungrateful. I'm not. I love each and every reader who finds this story. I love this story so much and I really want to finish it, not just for you guys but for myself too. This is basically keeping me sane while we wait for new updates regarding Stargirl Season 2. I promise you all that this story will continue. This is my second chance at fanfiction since I cannot bring myself to go back to my other fanfiction account on another website. This is a clean slate so to speak.
> 
> I have never felt such love from a fandom the way I have from the Stargirl fandom. I want this story to be the best it can be, even if there are spelling and grammar mistakes. There will be a new chapter coming soon but it may be a while.


	7. Principal Troy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the successful dinner with the Whitmore-Dugans and the JSA, Donna decides to embrace her time on Earth-2 by taking on the position of the new principal of Blue Valley High.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I wanted to apologise for the long wait for the previous chapter. I'd had the idea in my mind for a while and I really wanted to get it down. However, work has been crazy and I'm still struggling to catch up. I'm getting there very slowly. I've been working on this new chapter and I've also had this idea in my head for a while and I just couldn't wait to get out there. I thought it would be a good idea to have Donna be the one to keep an eye on the JSA as she knows what it is like to be young hero without a filter, so to speak.

_“Excuse me? You want to do what?!”_

As it turned out, Nate had been correct when he’d caught Donna’s thoughtful glance downstairs. They’d said their goodbyes to the JSA and Cameron who had promised Courtney he’d see her at school in the morning.

As sweet as it was, Nate still couldn’t get the look on his wife’s face out of his mind. Now, she had just told him she’d decided to take on the principal role at Blue Valley High which was crazy... right?

“What? This is a good idea, Nate.” Donna said as she crossed her arms, defiantly. They were back in the guest room and she’d just sprung it on him when he’d questioned her the second they’d entered.

“D, we don’t know how long we’re going to be stuck here!”

“Exactly, darling. We need something to occupy our time. Who knows when Cisco will able work out how to get us home.”

Nate gave an exaggerated groan as he threw his head back. “Donna, you are getting the hopes of these kids up of us staying here. I thought the whole superhero motto was not to get too attached.”

“I’m not getting their hopes up. I’m just giving them a push in becoming the heroes I know they can be.”

Deep down however, Donna knew her husband was right. They’d only been on Earth-2 for a day and she was already attached to the Whitmore-Dugans and to Cameron. She’d also felt drawn to the JSA. She could see they were still trying to find their feet as a team. It reminded her of the whole reason many superheroes on Earth-Prime went solo. If there was no team, it was easier not to get attached.

“Maybe you are right,” Donna shrugged. “But I have a gut feeling that something isn’t right here.”

This got Nate’s attention. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t you think that it’s odd that Cisco’s device was fine and J’onn and Brainy gave it the green light but then we end up on a totally different Earth but in the right location?”

Nate clenched his jaw. She had a point and it was a good one. “Perhaps you’re right. Have you tried getting in contact with anyone on our Earth?”

Donna shook her head. “Not yet. Been too busy and don’t change the subject. I’m going to apply for this position and you can’t stop me.”

Nate smirked. He knew she was going to say that. She really was that predictable. “I wasn’t planning on it. But, one quick question. What about your journalism stuff? Perry’s not going to be happy that you’ve suddenly stopped showing up for work.”

“Don’t worry. I have no doubt that Lois will cover for me.”

“You do realise she, Clark, and the boys reside in Smallville, right?”

“I’m aware. It’s just she’s done so much for me. She was able to talk Perry into hiring me though I was only a photographer. It was because of her I became a photojournalist before I became the journalist I am now. When she asked me to be godmother to Jon and Jor I just couldn’t say no.” She sighed. “I just wish I could do something for her and Clark, you know?”

Nate sighed as he reached forward, taking his wife gently by the elbow and leading her over to the bed where they sat down side-by-side. “I know how much the Kents mean to you. The twins adore you and Clark sees you as a sister. Lois does as well, but you need to think about your plan, Donna. If you get too swept in whatever it is you’re about to do, you’re going to be ripping these kids’ hearts out whenever we go home. They’re going to feel like you’re abandoning them.”

Donna turned to face him. “I would _never_ abandon them and neither would you. I can see the pain in your eyes, husband. You were having great fun with Pat and Mike earlier. You even gave that kid fatherly advice. Now, I’ve known you a long time and I know that you would _never_ abandon someone who needs your help. So, why should I give up helping the JSA and Cameron?”

Nate knew Donna had him there. She wouldn’t abandon people and neither would he. “Fine. You’re right. I wouldn’t and if I’m honest, I’ve enjoyed hanging out with Pat and Mike and the whole JSA. It reminds me of the Superfriends and Team Flash.”

“What about the Bat Team?”

“Them too.”

Donna snorted. “I wouldn’t let Mary or Luke hear you say that.”

“Has there still been nothing regarding Kate’s disappearance?” Nate asked.

“Not that I’m aware of. Do me a favor and don’t change the subject. This is serious. We need to plan accordingly in case we’re here longer than necessary.”

“Okay, okay. Look, if you want to keep an eye on the JSA, you have my support even I don’t like the idea.”

Donna beamed and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. “Thank you. Now, if you excuse me, I have a few phone calls to make.”

“At this hour? Couldn’t it wait until morning?”

“No, it can’t. If I don’t make the calls I need now, I might not get the position.” With that, she pulled out her phone and her laptop before she searched for the necessary phone numbers she needed to make her plan a reality.

Nate chuckled. His wife was a force of nature. She always had been. When she set her mind to something, there was no stopping here. He wasn’t sure whether it was the way Hippolyta had raised her or whether she had developed a strong sense of determination during her time in Man’s World during the early part of the twentieth century. Whatever the case was, he could only love her more than he already did and would not have traded it for anything.

* * *

The trip to school was full conversation as Pat drove Courtney and Mike to school. Barbara had gone to work early. James had texted her saying he needed her help on a proposal he was presenting to town hall on behalf of the American Dream and he wanted to ensure he had everything right.

Courtney smiled down at her phone as she texted back and forth with Cameron. They were talking about how well dinner the night before had gone and how well Donna and Nate had gotten on with the JSA.

“You’re happy.” Pat commented as he stopped a set of traffic lights and looked over at his daughter.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. Last night went really well.”

“I’m not talking about last night, Court and you know it.”

In the back, Mike looked up from his own phone, suddenly interested.

“If you’re talking about Cameron…”

“That is exactly what I’m talking about.” Pat nodded, a smirk forming on his face. “I’ve never seen you so carefree. I take it everything is going well between the two of you?”

As much as Courtney hated having talk about her love life with her dad, he wasn’t as embarrassing as he could’ve been. After all, he’d be more of a father to her than Sam had ever been. Pat knew all her faults and he’d been there when Sam had shattered her heart into a trillion pieces.

Unable to be annoyed with him, Courtney let out a happy sigh. “Everything’s amazing. For the first time since we moved here, I finally feel that everything has fallen into place. I’m in a good place with you, mom, and Mike. I have amazing friends who I can always count on and I have an incredible boyfriend who puts up with me.”

Pat chuckled. “I think Cameron’s a lucky guy to have you, Court.”

“Second that!” Mike called from the back seat.

Courtney laughed. “Thanks, little bro. That’s means a lot.”

Pat beamed more to himself than to the kids. He was happy that they were finally getting along.

It was also no secret that Mike and Cameron were two peas in a pod. They loved the same junk food and they loved old movies, something they shared with Barbara. Courtney could’ve sworn they were basically brothers as they treated each other as such. It was nice to have her brother and boyfriend getting along.

“Back at ya, big sis.”

Pat chuckled as Courtney returned to her phone and texted Cameron about the conversation she had just with Pat and Mike. She knew he’d laugh at how accepting they’d become of their relationship. It showed how much he admired both of them and she truly loved him for that.

However, five minutes later, they pulled up in front of Blue Valley High and what they saw surprised them. There was a banner hanging outside the school that read, ‘Welcome, Principal Troy’.

“Did you know about this?” Pat asked, his eyes on the banner but his question was aimed at Courtney.

“Not a clue.” Courtney said.

_“Court!”_

Courtney’s head turned in the direction the voice had come from and couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her face as Cameron came into view. Normally, he met her in the hall so it surprised her even more that Beth was with him. “Hey!” She greeted.

“Have you seen that?” Beth turned and pointed at the banner.

“Yeah, we’ve noticed,” Mike called from the back seat.

“What would possess Donna to go for the principal position at BVHS?” Pat asked from the driver's seat.

That was exactly what Courtney, Cameron, and Beth wanted to know.

“I think you guys ought to find out.”

Courtney turned to Pat to give him a hug before managing to get a high five from Mike. She opened the car door and climbed out.

“Bye, Court!” Pat said. “Have a super great day, honey.”

Courtney swallowed as she turned to wave to her dad and brother as Pat pulled the car away from the curb. She squared her shoulders as Cameron stepped to her side and took her hand.

Beth stepped to Cameron’s other side and took his arm. “Let’s go see what Donna’s up to.”

Together, the trio walked towards the entrance to the school.

* * *

Cameron, Courtney, and Beth hurried into the main hallway where they were joined by Rick and Yolanda.

“What’s going on?” Yolanda asked.

“Donna’s up to something.” Courtney said as she pointed to the banner that was hanging on the closest wall.

Rick and Yolanda looked at the banner with furrowed eyebrows.

“I thought it was a joke,” Rick said, his tone completely deadpan. “Apparently not.”

A moment later, the show’s deputy principal, Donna, and Nate could be heard exiting what used to be Anaya Bowin’s office.

_“…You’ll be a perfect fit for Blue Valley, Ms Troy. You’re knowledgeable and seem to care a great deal about the students.”_

“That sounds promising.” Cameron whispered to the others. He cringed a little when he caught looks Rick and Yolanda were shooting him. “What?”

“‘That sounds promising’? Seriously?” Rick said. “She’s a woman who could easily kill us with her lasso.”

Courtney shot Rick a look that told him to stop criticising her boyfriend. However, the conflict died away immediately when a wolf whistle sounded.

Donna, the vice principal, and Nate all stopped walking when they heard the unruly and tasteless noise and the sound of a voice saying: “Wow! When did the new principal of Blue Valley High get so hot?”

The conversations amongst the students fell away as the half-Amazon whirled around grabbing one of the football players by his shirt and slamming him against the closest locker.

The vice principal yelped and went to step in only to feel Nate’s hand on her shoulder as if he was telling her, _“Don’t. She knows what she’s doing.”_

“What’s your name, boy?” Donna snarled at the boy.

“T-Travis.” The boy splurged.

“Well, Travis, do you have a mother? A sister? Female friends?”

“Y-yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Better. Would you allow any male to wolf whistle at them?”

“N-no. I would confront them and tell them that it’s not polite.”

“Good answer. So, why did you do it to me when you apparently have so much respect for the women in your life?”

Travis looked at Donna, fear in his eyes.

Donna searched his expression before she took a small step backward, dropping him. He fell to the ground hard, his head not quite hitting the locker behind him.She looked to her left to see the JSA. Courtney was gripping Cameron’s hand tightly while holding his arm in the other. Beth stared back at her wide-eyed. Rick looked down at the ground while Yolanda didn’t know how to respond.

Turning her eyes away from her new friends, Donna turned to address the students in the hallway. “Things are going to change here at BVHS. If there is one thing I do NOT tolerate it is sexist behaviour from anyone. I was raised to respect everyone, no matter their gender, their sexual orientation or their beliefs. As your new principal, I will NOT allow any student to feel under appreciated because of someone else’s actions or words. Now, you all have two minutes to get to the gym. All stranglers will receive detention. Staff, anyone left behind will be fired. Get going.”

The students didn’t need to be told twice. Neither did the staff who were present.

Donna disappeared into the crowd along with the vice principal who seemed to value her job too much to want to lose it.

Nate looked over to see the JSA and Cameron hadn’t moved. “That means you five. Go before you get detention.” He then turned on his heel and left the hall.

“We’d better do as Mister Schott says.” said Beth.

“Agreed,” Cameron nodded as he allowed Beth to pull him towards the gym. “I can’t afford to ruin my perfect no detention record.” This earned a snort from Courtney as he pulled her by the hand after Beth like a length of rope being uncoiled. Courtney reached out and grabbed Rick’s arm while he did the same with Yolanda.

* * *

Beth lead her friends into the gym. By the time they got there, the place was almost full to capacity. The group made their way up towards the middle group of bleaches.

_“Beth! Up here!”_

Beth looked up to see Jenny Williams, the former lackey of Cindy Burman waving at her. She turned to her friends and motioned for them to follow her towards Jenny.

Rick looked like he wanted to protest but Yolanda elbowed him and he closed his mouth.

It only took a minute to reach where Jenny was sitting. Next to her was Artemis Crock, the only female jock and to the JSA’s surprise, the daughter of Sportsmaster and Tigress. As it turned out, Artemis wasn’t anything like her parents. Though, it was clear that she’d inherited their competitive nature. Outside of that, she was actually a decent person who only attacked people - namingly Brian - who humiliated her.

“Thanks for saving us seats, Jenny,” Beth grinned as she and the others sat above where Jenny and Artemis were sitting. “Means a lot.”

“Hey, don’t mention it,” Jenny dismissed her. She was too modest to take any form of thanks. “Least I could I do after all the help you’ve given me.”

Beth looked to her friends who all just nodded. It was a story for another day, one they would have to deal with, but it couldn’t be done while Donna had an ulterior motive.

A moment passed and the clicking of high heels sounded. The entire room went silent as Donna approached the podium.

 _Here we go,_ Beth thought. She’d known Donna not even a day and she already liked the way she operated. To threaten Travis the way she had was ballsy, as Chuck would say. No other teacher would’ve done that or given such a rousing speech. Losing her best pal to Jordan had almost destroyed her. In the weeks and months while she’d been looking for a way to repair her goggles and using the code created by Doctor McNider to bring Chuck back to life, she’d developed a thicker skin.

While people’s words had never really effected her given how much time she used to spend on her own, Beth had taken a leaf out of Courtney’s book all the times she’d defended Yolanda against Cindy. Having seen one of her best friends stand up against a bully had made her want to do the same thing. She’d stood up to Brian when he’d picked on an innocent Freshman who had bumped into him.

Defending someone had felt empowering and Beth had gotten a lot of praise from not just her friends, but other students and even some of the staff. Brian was notorious for bullying kids who were quiet and kept to themselves or did things that he thought were stupid like playing an instrument.

Beth was pulled from her thoughts when she heard feedback come from the microphone.

“Welcome everyone,” Donna began. “For those who didn’t hear before, my name is Donna Troy-Schott and I am the new principal of Blue Valley High.” She paused as murmurs rang out from around the room. Her eyes darted to the JSA and Cameron were sitting towards the back. She could feel Courtney’s eyes on her as if questioning her about her motives. She lifted her chin as if to tell the blonde teenager they would discuss it later. Much later.

“I know how that might sound. I am well aware of what has happened over the last six months with the other principals. I must say it is a _shame_ that Anaya Bowin is gone, but I can assure you all that the position will no longer be cursed with me. Now, given my long name, you may just call me, Ms Troy or Principal Troy. I have spoken to my husband,” Donna paused a second time and gestured to where Nate was standing next to the vice principal. “And he is more than fine with it. Though, I do not allow him to dictate my decisions.” Small chuckles came from the students and the staff. Over her shoulder, Donna heard Nate chuckle. “Anyway, for those who didn’t hear my speech earlier, I want everyone person in this school know that I do not condone any form of discrimination. I don’t care if you think you can get away with hurting other people’s feelings. No one should feel that they don’t belong. I was placed in a position when I was young where I thought I didn’t belong in the world. It took the combined efforts of my sister, my aunts, my grandmother, and one of my oldest friends to make me realise I was worth it. To every person who has ever been bullied at this school, have no fear. I will not allow you to suffer in silence. If you need someone to talk to, please come and see me.”

Beth could hear the sincerity in Donna’s voice. She meant every word. She looked over at her friends who exchanged looks. She caught Courtney and Cameron exchange looks. Did they know Donna was going to become principal? She shook her head. Of course, they didn’t. Cameron had been as surprised as she had been when they saw the banners hanging up around the school. There was something that wasn’t adding up and she wanted to know what it was.

Before I send you all off to homeroom, please keep in mind to use the trash bins and please, keep our school clean. The last thing I want is the groundskeeper coming to me to tell me we have a pest problem.” The way Donna had spoken had people giggling. It wasn’t everyday a high-ranking member of the teaching staff made a joke at their own suspense.

Part of Beth was happy that Donna was a breath of fresh air for Blue Valley High. Though, whatever the reason was for Donna becoming the new principal was what she was puzzling over and it was going to drive her insane until she had the truth in her hands.

“Okay, everyone off to homeroom.”

The students rose from their seats and slowly made their way towards the exit. Though, the JSA, Cameron, Artemis, and Jenny remained seated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we have it! Another chapter. I had a bit of time last week after I finished the previous chapter so I thought I would write part of this one. It wasn't until today did I actually get the chance to finish it. There's a bit going on with Jenny and Artemis in this story. The reason I didn't introduce them sooner is because I wanted the JSA and Cameron to become familiar with Donna and Nate. There's going to be a flashback next chapter to explain how Artemis is involved with the plot. However, I'm still not sure how much of a role Artemis will end up having as I have to work in stuff with Earth-Prime characters too. This story is going be around 200,000 words so there's a lot going on as you can already see. This will probably be the longest story I have ever written.
> 
> The last time I checked my word count in the document on my USB drive with the story, I'm almost at the quarter point mark of the story 25,000 words to go until I get there. I'm really happy with how this is story is going and I hope you guys love it as much as I do.


	8. Growth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Artemis begins to get suspicious over what her parents are doing. Unsure of what to do, she goes to Beth for help and learns something she had no expected...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the flashback in this chapter were not planned at all. I've wanted to use Artemis in the story for a while, but I just didn't know how I was going to do. Also, I want everyone to know that we will be checking in with Earth-Prime soon. It won't be this chapter but it is on the horizon.

**_Flashback - 4 Months Earlier..._ **

_Artemis knew something wasn’t quite right with her parents. She just couldn’t put her finger on it. They had been weird since her mom had announced she and her dad were going on a date night. They never went on date nights. What made it even stranger was waking up to find her mom and dad passed out on the porch of their house. How they had gotten there had been beyond her._

_There had been a note left saying that they had been found drunk at the local bar. Someone had driven them home and had just dumped them on the porch. But Artemis had seen the bruises on their faces. Her dad’s left eye had swollen shut. This hadn’t really surprised her. She’d seen her dad get into fights with some of his employees at Ripped City, the gym he owned in the middle of town. However, this time he had not come out victorious. Her mother was also an expert fighter. She’d seen her taken down her father in a sparing match without even breaking a sweat._

_If she were the romantic type, she would’ve said her parents were a perfect match. In a lot of ways they were, but Artemis had found herself thinking more and more about what her parents actually did on date nights late. If she could actually call them that. She had an inkling there’s more going on than what she was being told. She’d decided to keep a journal of each time they made an excuse._

_It had gotten to the point where they were running out of excuses that sounded real and Artemis was finding it harder to contain the rage she felt. Her parents were all but forgetting she existed and she needed to find out what they were up to._

_With her notebook in hand, she knew there was one person who could help her; Beth Chapel._

_Beth Chapel was a pretty cool chick. She was insanely smart given she had a 4.0 decided GPA. Artemis had never had an issue with her but given how different they were, they weren’t really anything more than just acquaintances. However, she recalled how much Beth loved a good mystery from their time in the fifth grade where she’d developed an obsession with Arthur Conan-Doyle and Agatha Christie._

_If Artemis was honest, it would’ve been nice to join in on the fun. Her parents had discouraged her from anything that wasn’t sports related. Sure, she had the skills everyone else did, but her academics weren’t where they were meant to be. Her grades were nowhere as high as Beth’s but they were enough so she could remain on the football team._

_As she walked through the cafeteria, Artemis found Beth sitting at the former ‘singles’ table with Cameron Mahkent. She noticed that three occupants were missing; former popular Yolanda Montez, town delinquent Rick Harris, and new girl Courtney Whitmore. The pair looked up when they heard her approach._

_“Hey Artemis,” Beth greeted with a cheery smile. “What’s up?”_

_Artemis’ eyes darted from Beth to Cameron and back again. Being at this table made her feel uncomfortable as her friends at the jock table were likely watching her and were probablygoing to call her out for hanging with the ‘losers’._

_“Hi Artemis.” Cameron said with a grin._

_Artemis nodded. She and Cameron had known each other since preschool though they’d never hung out or had a proper conversation. They only knew each other because their parents were friendly. Cameron’s dad, Jordan had a working relationship with her mom and dad, though it remained a mystery to both of them how a businessman knew a gym owner and a gym coach. They didn’t even run in the same social circles._

_“I… ah… need your help with something.” Artemis could feel her throat close in. She hated asking for help on anything but finding out what her parents were up to was her number one priority. Without another word, she pushed the journal in front of Beth and Cameron._

_“What’s this?” Cameron asked as Beth opened the notebook._

_“My parents are acting weird.”_

_“Weird how?”_

_“They keep making all these odd excuses for not being at home.”_

_“Your dad owns the gym not far from Courtney’s stepdad’s garage. Your mom was BVHS’s gym coach until she resigned,” Beth said she as she and Cameron looked down the list Artemis had written. “Maybe they’re talking business with their business partners.”_

_Artemis shook her head. “I don’t think so. The American Dream when it was run by Cam’s dad was responsible for keeping my dad’s gym open. Now, the business is struggling and I’ve never seen my dad so pissed.”_

_“Okay,” Cameron said as he and Beth exchanged looks. “But what does this have to do with anything?”_

_Artemis knew she wasn’t good at explaining things, but she needed them to believe her. “I think they’re up to something sketchy.”_

_“Wait a moment,” Beth said, stopping on a point in the notebook. “Excuse number forty-five is ‘Dad spends a lot of time mumbling about Mike Dugan’. Ahh, this isn’t an excuse. It’s a… rambling?”_

_Artemis shrugged. “I wasn’t sure what to call it. But why would my dad mention Mike Dugan? Also, who is he?”_

_“Mike is Courtney’s little brother,” Beth said. When she saw Artemis’ odd look, she elaborated. “Courtney’s stepbrother.”_

_“What does my dad have to do with him? I didn’t even know Courtney had a stepbrother.”_

_At this point in the conversation, Beth and Cameron looked like they wanted to die from embarrassment and Artemis could see it. It was clear to her they knew something she didn’t._

_“What am I missing here? It’s clear you both know something I don’t.” Artemis said, her eyes darting between her two classmates._

_Cameron and Beth weren’t sure what to say. They had two choices. The could either tell Artemis the full truth about the JSA and ISA or they could say nothing at all and continue the awkwardness. Okay, it was awkward no matter what way they spun it._

_Before they had a chance to respond the bell indicating next period sounded, giving them the excuse they needed to not answer Artemis’ questions._

_“Will you look at that?” Beth perked up at the sound. “Time for class. Bye Artemis!” Without another word, she grabbed her stuff and shot away from the table so fast that Cameron had to sprint to catch up with her._

_Artemis was taken aback by what had just happened. Why were Beth and Cameron acting so weird? It wasn’t like them. She frowned to herself before shouldered the strap of her backpack and headed to her next class._

* * *

**Present Day...**

Artemis tapped her fingers on the desk in front of her. She was in the library with her English class and she had finished all the work the teacher had assigned them. Normally, she kept pace with her classmates but she was desperate to get to the cafeteria. She had gotten a text from Beth asking to meet with her at lunch.

It had been months since her weird run in with Beth and Cameron in the cafeteria. Since that day, every time she entered the lunchroom she would always see the pair and their friends hunched over, talking in whispers. If she didn’t have respect for them the way she did, she wouldn’t have bothered to watch them everyday in case they wanted to talk to her.

In the time that had passed, Artemis had started to grow even more frustrated with her parents. They’d become even more cagey and their whispering revolved into arguments. She could never work out what they were saying as she didn’t want to get caught spying. That was the last thing she wanted. Her parents had always told her to behave and good things would come to her. Though, she had a feeling this was just a ruse to get her to stay away from whatever it was they were up to.

She was pulled out of her thoughts the second the bell rang, not even stopping to hear what the teacher wanted the class to do next time, she grabbed her bag and bolted out of the library, ignoring the teacher calling her name.

Artemis bustled past her friends as she walked past them. She ignored them too as she wanted to be in the cafeteria before Beth, Cameron, and their friends got there. This would be her chance to get them talking. There was no way she was going to let them slip by her again.

Entering the cafeteria and she walked to the table the Whitmore squad occupied and slammed her books down, causing the people standing closest to her to jump. She scowled at them, prompting them to turn back to what they were doing. It didn’t take long for the others to show up. Courtney, Cameron, and Beth had just come out of Algebra while she knew Rick and Yolanda had gym with the coach that replaced her mother. It was almost gratifying to see them assemble together like a team. They were more than just friends. They _were_ a team. A family. If Artemis was honest, it was nice. Better than her own family dynamic at the moment.

“Hi Artemis,” Courtney greeted with a small smile. “Thanks for joining us.”

Artemis nodded as as she squeezed in beside Courtney and Yolanda as the others took their seats. “I don’t say this often to like anyone, but thank you for having me. So, what did you want to talk about?” She turned to Beth.

“We have information we’ve been debating on whether or not you should know.”

“Okay. So, what’s this information?”

“Your parents are evil.” Rick said before the others could even get a word in.

Artemis opened her mouth to say something but closed it again. Her parents were evil? That was what they wanted to tell her.

“You don’t seem surprised.” Courtney said, uncertain of how to respond tothe jock’s reaction.

“Suddenly, everything makes sense,” Artemis muttered more to herself than to the others. She then turned to her classmates and spoke so they could hear her. “You’ve given me something to really think about.”

The JSA looked at each other, unsure of how to respond.

Artemis leaned forward, lacing her fingers together. “Tell me what you know about my parents.”

The JSA told Artemis everything they knew about Paula and Larry. Beth even kind enough to explain why she and Cameron had acted so strangely that day when Artemis had bought them the journal full of notes with all the excuses her parents had given her.

“…Wait, so my dad tried to kill your dad but didn’t expect your brother to be there?” Artemis questioned when Courtney had finished explaining what Pat had told her and her mother about Larry showing up at the Pit Stop and almost killing him.

“Yeah. According to Pat, he doesn’t know who sent him.” Courtney said.

“I think I do,” said Cameron, breaking his silence. He didn’t seem bothered that all eyes around the table were on him. “I think my dad sent Crusher to kill Pat. That would mean…”

“He also sent Paula to kill Barbara and Court.” Yolanda finished.

“I knew my dad was capable of some twisted things, but I did not expect him to go that far.” Cameron could feel his insides burning with rage. He couldn’t believe thathis father could resort to such brutal tactics to get what h wanted. He also couldn’t believe he hadn’t worked this out earlier. He felt stupid for even giving his dad the time of day. All that stuff about finding love had been kinda true, but the more he’d thought about it, the more it was code for ‘find someone who believes in killing 25 million people’.

“Good thing Mike was there was to stop my dad,” Artemis said, snapping Cameron out of his personal pity party. She paused for a moment. “I wanna join.”

The JSA blinked, stupidly.

“Sorry?” Beth shook her head.

“I wanna join whatever this is,” Artemis gestured to the table. “I wanna help put a stop to my parents whoever else is running around Blue Valley.”

The JSA and Cameron looked at each other. They hadn’t anticipated this at all.

“You wanna help us?” Courtney asked.

Artemis nodded. “I know that sounds weird coming from someone like me, but I think I can help you. If you need Intel on where my parents go, I can be a spy or whatever.”

“Sounds promising,” Courtney nodded as she considered what Artemis was telling them. “Can you fight?”

“Yeah. I live and breathe sport. My mom taught me kickboxing when I was 5.” Artemis said.

“I remember you walking into the classroom in kindergarten with a black eye.” Cameron said.

Artemis gave a sheepish nod. “Yeah, not my finest moment.”

“I like the idea of Artemis being on our side.” Beth said brightly.

“Me too,” said Yolanda. “I think it would be nice to have someone who knows how Tigress and Sportsmaster operate.”

All eyes turned on Rick who simply shrugged. “I don’t really care. Strength in numbers, right?”

Courtney turned to Cameron. “Cam?”

“Fine by me. I’m not JSA, though.”

“No, but you’re just as much a member of the team as anyone of us,” Yolanda said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re Court’s boyfriend or not. You’ve got the abilities and you want to do good.”

Cameron knew he couldn’t argue with that. He looked over at Artemis who seemed confused. “I’ll explain later.”

Artemis nodded as she turned her attention to Courtney.

“I think the others are right. Though, when I put the team together originally I did consider you.” Courtney admitted.

Artemis blinked, surprised. “Really?”

“Yeah, but I chose not to pursue it as you were too…”

“Competitive?” Artemis guessed. “I get that a lot. I have my mom’s temper.” She was surprised that Courtney had even considered her.

“Welcome to the JSA, Artemis.” Courtney grinned.

Artemis grinned in return. “What does ‘JSA’ stand for?”

“Justice Society of America.” Beth chimed in, making sure to keep her voice down.

“Who came up with that?” Artemis pulled a face.

The JSA looked at each other the same look of amusement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it! Another chapter down and dusted. This one was going to be much longer in my head, but I didn't want to drag out. So, next chapter we'll be catching up with the Bat Family on Earth Prime. I'm really excited to write this next part!


	9. Bat Time And Bust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Over on Earth-Prime in Gotham City, Mary is forced to reel in Luke when he gives Cisco a hard time about the device that he gave Donna and Nate. Meanwhile back on Earth-2, Pat gets the shock of his life when Crusher's daughter walks into the Pit Shop with the JSA.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to Earth-Prime, everyone! I know it's been a while since we've visited the Arrowverse (yes, we're still calling it that) Earth but I couldn't help it. I wanted to be as universal as I could be with this story. I've always envisioned Cisco and Luke to be rivals. I thought that would be a fun scenario. You'll notice too that I have included a mention to the new Batwoman, Ryan Wilder to this story too. Now, since they're currently filming Batwoman Season 2, we don't actually know what type of person Ryan will be on screen until the new season airs in January. For now, I'll mention her but not actually show her until we get a proper introduction.
> 
> This chapter will contain a mention of Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne. Originally, I was going to include other Bat family references, but the chapter kinda took on a mind of its own while I've been working on it. 
> 
> Next chapter will introduce another original character that I've been looking forward to introducing. He's referenced in this chapter but will make a proper introduction soon.

**Earth-Prime**

Mary Hamilton was at a loss. Just a few months ago, she had started to actually bond with her stepsister, Kate. Now, she was MIA and the former socialite turned doctor had no one to turn to except perhaps Luke Fox and their new friend, Ryan Wilder. As she scrolled through her Instagram feed, Mary sighed heavily.

Kate’s disappearance had put an even bigger divide in place between her and Jacob. Mary had her own theory of what happened to her stepsister while Jacob, who had basically raised her since she was a little girl had come to the conclusion that he had lost two of his three daughters. He barely even referenced Kate anymore and it was starting to get old.

_“Damn it, Cisco!”_

Mary jumped at the sound of Luke’s voice as he stormed into what use to be Kate’s office, his tablet in hand.

 _“Hey! Don’t take this out on me! How the hell was I supposed to know the device was glitchy?!”_ Came the unmistakeable screech of Cisco Ramon.

Mary knew that Kate had had a close bond with CatCo journalist Kara Danvers who knew a lot of people thanks to her own connections through her work, her friendship with Lena Luthor, the DEO, and more importantly, Lois Lane.

One of the friends of Kara’s that Kate had met was Donna Troy-Schott, a journalist from the Daily Planet who was also good friends with Kara’s cousin Clark and his family. Donna and her husband, Nate had become good friends with the Bat team and they’d become like family. What had surprised Mary was that Donna had ties to her stepcousin, Bruce, Jacob’s nephew who had mysteriously disappeared a few years ago.

All Mary knew was that Donna knew Bruce through her sister, Diana who was one of his oldest friends alongside Clark and Lois. How this was even possible was literally beyond Mary’s comprehension. She knew Bruce had contacts everywhere, but she wasn’t aware of that his contacts went that deep. She was also aware that he had had a load of girlfriends over the years, but Diana and Donna had not been among them.

_“I had J’onn and Brainiac 5 check the device before I gave it to Donna and Nate. How stupid do you think I am, Luke?”_

Mary cringed as Cisco’s voice went up another octave. _Now I understand why Barry and Kate were hesitant to have them meet,_ she thought to herself as she put her phone down on the desk.

“Do you _really_ want me to answer that?” Luke questioned.

Mary groaned and rolled her eyes. “Luke, can you please give Cisco a break?”

Luke rounded on her. “Give him a break? Are you kidding, Mary? He just lost one of your cousin’s dearest friends.”

“First off,” Mary rose from her chair. “Bruce is my step-cousin, second off, Donna and Nate can take care of themselves.”

 _“Thank you for the support, Mary,”_ Cisco said, clearly thankful for Mary’s support. _“I am trying to use the data that I have to replicate what happened. Except, I’m having a hard time doing so.”_

Mary walked over to where Luke was standing and peered over his shoulder to see the disheveled look in Cisco’s eyes. Sure, he was on a screen as he was back in Central City, but that wasn’t the point. He was tearing himself apart for whatever was going on with Donna and Nate. “Care to explain to me what’s actually going on?” She looked between her two friends.

It didn’t take Cisco long to explain how Donna and Nate had simply disappeared thanks to the device he had created and had Brainy and J’onn check to ensure it was safe.

“So, let me get the cliff notes version correct. You gave Donna and Nate a device that sent them who-knows-where but ensured it was working before you gave it to them? Is there anything I am missing?” Mary threw Cisco the most pointed look she could muster.

 _“That pretty much sums it up, yeah.”_ If Cisco was impressed that she had summed up his predicament so well, he didn’t give anything away and Mary hadn’t expected him to.

“Is there any way you can correct the situation?” Mary questioned, ignoring the bug-eyed look of desperation Luke was throwing her.

_“Believe me, I’m trying. I’ve been brainstorming ideas but even Nash is at a loss and that’s saying that I’m basically screwed.”_

Mary felt genuinely sorry for Cisco. As much as she wanted to hug him and tell him everything was going to be okay, she couldn’t as she didn’t want to pick sides and risk angering her two friends. That was the last thing she wanted was to have them both fighting when they could have been pulling their efforts to finding Donna and Nate.

“You know if you both worked together, it might make this whole situation easier.” Mary stated matter-of-factly.

Luke and Cisco knew she was right, but they didn’t want to acknowledge it. If they need, it would make them both realise that Donna and Nate were in even deeper trouble if they couldn’t get them back.

“You know Cisco and I aren’t really friends, right?” Luke said, trying his attention to Mary.

Mary rolled her eyes and headed back over the desk just in tome to hear it ring. Picking it up, she sighed. “It’s my dad. Get it together, and please don’t do anything dumb. If you have to, trying working _together._ That way, I can report to Iris that you boys are getting along even if you do have to fake it.” She gave them a look that would’ve frozen a small pond over and was enough to have Luke go pale.

Luke knew better than anyone that pissing Mary off was not the way to go. He’d seen it firsthand. She was Jacob Kane’s daughter, even if he wasn’t biologically her dad. He had raised her to be fierce like Kate had been. Just the thought of Bruce Wayne’s cousin was enough to make him feel sad. He felt that he and the Lady Bat had become like family. After all, Bruce and Lucius had been close. Luke had just wished that he had of told Kate how much she meant to him before she’d disappeared. She’d been like a sister to him but he hoped she’d known that.

Mary was right. He and Cisco had to get along for Donna and Nate’s sake. “You know what? You’re right.”

On the tablet screen, Cisco sat up straighter. He felt confrontation coming on but he was surprised by Luke’s words. “Right about what?” He questioned, curiously.

“We’re very different you and I. However, we have one thing in common. We’re friends with Donna and Nate.”

“So?”

“So, they’re our friends. The last thing I want is them being lost. I know for a fact that you don’t want that either.”

Cisco knew Luke had him there. He admired Donna and Nate and while he hadn’t known them long, he had lost too many friends over the years to dwell on what could happen if the metahuman and the Amazon princess were lost to the unknown. “Okay. Where do we start?”

* * *

**Earth-2**

The JSA, Cameron, and Artemis stood outside The Pit Shop. It was after school and Blue Valley High’s only female jock had been determined to find out more about what her parent were up to. Cameron and Beth had been unable to stop her from joining them for their training session with Pat.

“So, this is the infamous Pit Stop.” Artemis said as she looked up at the new sign Pat had had installed just a week ago. “My dad always said it was the best garage in town.”

Rick snorted. “‘Best garage in town?’ Your dad almost killed Pat and Mike here.”

Artemis had been learning to contain her temper. The last she wanted was to be a compared to her mother who was known for her notoriously short fuse. “I did not know that. Thanks for the update on my dad’s list of almost kills, Harris.”

Rick had to bite back a retort. He thought Mike’s on-the-nose smug attitude was bad. Artemis’ was apparently worse.

Out of the corner of her eye, Courtney could see how uncomfortable Rick looked. He wasn’t used to calling someone else out who wasn’t a member of their little group. He’d called Mike out enough times in the last six months to last him five lifetimes. And then, there was his Uncle Matt. He wasn’t afraid to call him out when he was being a dirtbag which was basically all the time.

“Guys,” Yolanda warned. “We’re all here to train.”

Artemis and Rick fell silent. While Artemis didn’t know what had happened between Yolanda and Dr King, she couldn’t help but notice the darkness in her tone.

Rick obviously knew what had happened and had seen the drastic change within his friend. While he felt at peace after having avenged his parents so to speak, Yolanda had started to fall into a very dark hole that she was not going to be able to get out of it. If he was honest, it was begin to scare him, though he had noticed that Beth and Courtney hadn’t seen it too much. After all, Courtney was too caught up in her love bubble - thanks Beth - with Cameron to notice.

Choosing not to say anything, Rick and Artemis remained silent.

“Guys, come on,” Courtney said. “Yolanda’s right. We have training. Though, we may need to work out how to tell Pat that Artemis is joining us.” She cringed at the idea. She knew Crusher was a sore subject for her stepdad after everything that had happened.

Artemis didn’t miss Courtney’s cringe. She knew that Courtney had every right to do so given what her dad had tried to her dad and brother.“I can always introduce myself to Pat.” She suggested.

Courtney shook her head. “No. Pat knows who your dad is and he probably know who you are.”

“Sure, that makes sense. He mentioned your dad all the time as one of the people he was trying to get ripped.” Artemis cringed at having just quoted her father’s not-so-famous words.

“Pat’s a good guy,” Beth said, gaining Artemis’ attention. “He’s not going to criticise you because of who your dad is.”

Artemis hoped she was right. She’d heard how her dad had tried to murder Pat and how Mike had knocked him out in order to protect his father. “Come on. Let’s this over and done with.” Without any sense of fear, she stepped forward and towards the entrance of the Pit Stop.

The JSA and Cameron looked at each other before they bustled after their new teammate.

* * *

In the workshop, Nate sat on the workbench as he watched Pat work on the Buick. “This is an amazing car.” He commented, his legs swinging lightly.

“Well, thank you.” Pat looked up briefly from his work to issue a small smile. “You know anything about cars?”

“Not really. I know my way around a screwdriver, though.”

“How do you mean?”

“I work in IT and I’ve rebuilt computers and I’m a pretty decent hacker, but that’s as far as it goes.”

“That’s interesting.”

Nate frowned. “Really? You find that I work in IT interesting?”

“Yeah. I can’t operate a smart phone. Hell, I’m not even on social media. The remote control for S.T.R.I.P.E is a flip phone.” To empathise his point, Pat pulled the phone from his pocket. He caught Nate’s eye and saw he looked about ready to laugh at him. “Go ahead and laugh. I can take it.”

Nate held up his hands. “I wasn’t going to.”

Before he could say anything more, there was a yell and heavy footsteps.

Nate and Pat looked towards the exit to see a teenage girl of Asian descent skidded to a halt in the doorway.

_“Hey, wait!”_

Courtney appeared behind the girl, almost running into her.

“Hey, Pat. Nate.” Courtney said awkwardly.

“Court,” Pat nodded at his daughter before his gaze turned to the behind her where Rick, Yolanda, Cameron, and Beth were trying not to be noticed. “Everyone.”

“Pat.” Rick nodded from over Courtney’s left shoulder. The girls and Cameron gave awkward waves.

“Who’s your friend?” Nate asked, nodding at Artemis.

“Artemis Crock.” Artemis introduced herself, uncertainly.

Pat’s expression paled.

“Pat, you okay?” Courtney questioned, her eyes turning to her father.

Pat’s gaze turned to Artemis. “Crock? You’re Larry’s daughter?”

Artemis’ bit her lip as she looked down at her feet. “Yeah,” she said in a small voice. “That’s me.”

Courtney slipped past Artemis so she was standing next to her. “There’s a reason she’s here.”

Pat and Nate exchanged looks.

“I’m not going to pretend to know what’s going on, because I don’t,” Nate said honestly. “But, I am willing to hear her out,” he paused as he turned to Pat. “What do you think?”

Artemis risked looking up. She could tell from the look on Nate’s face that he was being truthful. Pat, on the other hand, looked uncertain.

“I understand if you don’t want me here Mister Dugan,” Artemis said. “What I’ve been told about my parents and their involvement in trying to kill you and your family is just downright wrong.”

This statement surprised Pat. He had heard from Courtney when they’d been talking about recruiting more members that Artemis was known to be competitive and violent when she was pushed by someone. Or she did it just for fun. He wasn’t sure. Though, she did look familiar. Had she been at the Open House during Courtney’s sophomore year? He remembered Larry being there so perhaps his hunch was correct, but he wasn’t going to speak out on it in case he was wrong.

“I appreciate you saying that,” Pat nodded, some of the colour returning to his face. “If my daughter and her friends trust you than I have no reason to question it.”

“Thank you, Mister Dugan, that means a lot.”

Pat chuckled. “Don’t mention it and call me Pat. The only person who ever addresses me formally is Beth.” He looked over Artemis’ shoulder to give Beth an affectionate smile which she gladly returned.

Artemis nodded.

Nate raised his hand. “I’m Nate by the way.”

Artemis looked at him blankly for a moment before something registered in her mind. “Oh! I’ve seen you around school. You’re Principal Troy’s husband, right?”

Nate nodded, clearly impressed, though, he chose to say nothing.

While this conversation had been going on, the rest of the JSA and Cameron had slipped into the room.

“So, how is it you know about all this superhero stuff?”

An easy smile spread across Nate’s face. “Quite simple really. I’m superhero. So is my wife. Basically, our entire family is.”

Artemis’ jaw dropped. “Really?” When Nate nodded, she found she had a million questions in her mind. “So, is this like a one-off team up or something?”

“Nope,” said Nate as he popped the ‘P’ in the word. “This it’s more like semi-permanent. My wife and I are stuck on this Earth and we have no way back to ours.”

“Another Earth?”

“Again, it’s a long story.” Cameron said from where he was standing with Beth on the right side of the door.

Artemis turned to him. “You have a _lot_ of explaining to do.”

“We can explain all that later. Right now, however, we need to start this training session.” Said Pat as Nate slid off the work bench.

* * *

**Earth-Prime**

A couple of days passed and Luke and Cisco worked remotely in trying to find a way to get in contact with Donna and Nate but they’d had no luck.

“I cannot believe we’ve been working on this idea for the past two days and we’ve had no zero success!” Luke said, frustration growing. His fists came down hard on his work bench in the Bat Cave.

The pair had temporarily put aside their differences for the sake of finding a way to get in contact with Donna and Nate. It had also put Team Flash and Mary at ease to know they were using their brains and their skills to do something constructive.

From where she was standing on the other side of the Batcave, Mary was on her tablet talking with Cecile.

_“How has Luke been since he and Cisco decided to work together?”_

“Not too bad,” Mary said, her tone flat but genuinely sincere. “He hasn’t been as annoying as he normally is.”

 _“I heard that!”_ Luke called from the other side of the room.

Mary pressed her lips together to prevent herself from laughing. “Sorry, Cecile.”

Cecile chuckled and shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, Mary. I hear arguments like this between Cisco and Nash all the time so it’s nothing new to me.”

Mary didn’t need to say anything for Cecile to know she was thankful. She had been in the superhero game much longer than Mary had been and had learned from the best. After all, Joe was the foster father and father-in-law of The Flash and the future grandfather of XS who apparently would be a speedster like her father. If Cecile was honest, she loved being the mother of Team Flash. Sure, they were a handful but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Mary, is there any update on getting in contact with Nate and Donna?”

“No. Or at least, Luke hasn’t said anything. If there has been something he would’ve said so.”

Cecile sighed. “Yeah, Cisco would’ve mentioned something too. If anything, he’s driving poor Kamilla crazy.”

“How is she doing by the way?”

“She knows what’s at sake if we don’t get Donna and Nate back. She’s been strategising with Iris, Lois, and Kara.”

“Strategising what exactly?”

“Ways of trying to dodge Donna’s sister.”

“Diana?”

“Yeah. Her.” Mary didn’t miss Cecile’s shudder.

“Are you really afraid of what Diana will do if she finds out we lost her little sister?”

“From what Clark and Kara have said, Diana doesn’t take kindly to being lied to. She also doesn’t like it when she is kept in the dark about anything.”

“That’s what I heard too. Let’s hope we can get ahold of Donna before Diana learns what’s really going on.”

“How can we keep this from her? Donna and Nate have been missing for almost week now. Isn’t Diana going to be suspicious if Donna doesn’t check in?” Mary was almost certain the secret was going to blow up in everyone’s faces.

Cecile appeared thoughtful. “I understand what you mean. Have you heard from Ethan? Perhaps he can do something to stall her.”

“Great idea. I’ll add it to my do-to list. You know, I never thought being the stepsister of a superhero would be the ideal gig to get network contacts.”

Cecile laughed. “I thought the same thing when I joined Team Flash.”

_“Yes!”_

Mary and Cecile jumped at the sound of Luke’s voice.

“What did you discover?” Mary questioned as she hurried over to Luke, the tablet containing Cecile.

“I think we’ve found a way to communicate with Nate and Donna.”

 _“Give me a second.”_ Said Cecile. Her feed dropped out.

Mary put her tablet down and went to join Luke. A second later, she could hear heels and Cecile appeared next to Cisco.

“Do you wanna tell them what we’ve discovered or do you want me to do it?” Luke was excited and was basically bouncing on the heels of his feet.

Cecile looked over at Cisco who simply rolled his eyes. “Luke, honey, you can tell us. I don’t think Cisco minds. Right?”

“This was Luke’s idea. He should be the one who explains what we discovered.” Cisco shrugged.

“I appreciate that,” Luke grinned. He turned to Mary. “You’re a social media influencer, right?”

“Ahh… I used to be until my mother’s crime of faking the lab results on the deer skull fragments that she passed off as Beth… uh, Alice’s came out. Why?”

“Well, Cisco and I have worked out that we can create a link between Earth-Prime and Earth-2 through an app similar to What’s App.”

Mary snorted. “I haven’t never used it. Heck, I don’t even know how it works.”

“It’s a messager type of app,” said Cisco. “We’ve created a technological breach that is only accessible through a What’s App-esque interface.”

“So, what does that mean for Donna and Nate?” Cecile asked.

“Nate’s brother, Winn has been working on a program while he’s been living in the future with his family. Ethan has alerted him of what’s been going on and he’s been advising us on the issues we might run into while trying to get his brother and sister-in-law back.” Luke explained.

“What about Diana?” Mary questioned.

“Don’t worry. Winn has been helping Ethan keep Diana off the scent. We’ve been too… scared to question how much she actually knows.” Cisco said almost shyly.

Cecile placed a hand on Cisco’s shoulder. She understood how he was feeling. He didn’t like the idea of having to work with other tech geniuses to bail out his friends, but he knew it would be worth it once they got in contact with their missing pals.

“Is there anything we can do in the meantime?” Cecile asked.

“There is something,” Luke said, pursing his lips together before he continued. “Donna has a mobile version of Winn’s app on her laptop. She’s the only person who has a beta version.”

“I don’t follow,” Mary frowned. “Why does Donna have a beta version of the app her brother-in-law is insisting you and Cisco use to get her and her husband home?”

“Winn is very… picky when it comes to sharing his work,” Cisco explained. “The last think he wants is someone trying to steal his work. He trusts Donna and she’s always been upfront about how he can improve.”

“Didn’t he create the first version of Kara’s super suit? You know, the one with the skirt.” Mary frowned as if she was trying to remember.

“Yeah, he did,” Cecile said which prompted Cisco to nod in agreement. “From what Barry told us, the guy is awesome. Incredibly nerdy and loves his pop culture references.”

Mary wanted say something about this but chose not to as she knew it would spark an argument with Cisco. She cleared her throat. “So, how does this work from Donna’s perspective?”

“Donna always has the app open so once we try to patch through a call, she should receive it.” Luke said thoughtfully.

“Wait a moment,” said Mary. “I thought you said that Donna is the only one who has access to the app.”

“She does,” said Luke. “She can use other apps through this one and it doesn’t compromise the integrity of what Winn created.”

Mary had no idea what that meant but she had a feeling she didn’t need an explanation. “Now, are we going to try this idea of yours or what?”

Luke looked to the screen to see Cisco staring wide eyed at him. “Not just yet. We need Ethan to run interference on the other end to see if its safe. If’s not, we might be putting Donna and Nate in danger if their enemies discover where they are.”

“Why do you even have to contact this Ethan person?” Mary questioned. “Why not just contact Dick?”

“For a couple of reasons, Mary,” Cecile said gently. “Ethan is the one person who can keep this whole situation from Diana and second, Dick is currently trying to avoid Gotham at all costs.”

Mary sighed. The Dick she’d been talking about was her step-cousin, Bruce Wayne’s adoptive son whom he’d raised since the the guy was a kid. This technically made him Mary’s cousin too give her relationship to Bruce and to her stepsister, Kate. “Right, because losing Bruce and Kate was too much for him.”

Luke, Cisco, and Cecile all looked at each other. Luke had known Bruce most of his life as his late father, Lucius had been his tech guy and he’d had a soft spot for Dick who had been Robin until he’d struck on out his own and become Blüdhaven’s vigilante, Nightwing.

At the time of Bruce’s disappearance, Dick hadn’t spoken to his adoptive father in eight months after a falling out they’d had. After Kate had returned to Gotham to look for her ex-girlfriend Sophie, Dick had contacted her to express his regret at not getting in contact sooner.

Luke and Dick had been ‘bros’ and it had pissed off Kate to the point she’d given up in trying to argue with them about, well, anything. She’d kept this from Mary because she hadn’t wanted to get too attached to her stepsister.

“Mary,” Luke placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You know much Kate loved you. Sure, she might not have shown it, but she admired you. Dick thought of you as a cousin too.”

“I… just wish Dick was here. He and Donna are close friends. He should know what’s going on.”

“He does know,” Luke said. “When Donna and Nate first went missing, Barry got in contact with him and told what happened. He’s been trying to gather together a list of suspects as to who would would want them gone.”

Mary had to reframe from asking anything else. If she did, she was afraid she would say something she was going to regret. She nodded before she turned to face Luke. “So, does this mean you have to get this Ethan guy’s approval before you can even attempt to contact Donna and Nate?”

Luke smirked. “Oh, we’re not going to contact them.”

Mary’s face fell to an expression of disbelief. “What?”

“That is going to be Cassie’s job.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter will have a load more Earth-Prime stuff. I'm not sure if the chapter will be entirely on Earth-Prime so we'll just have to wait and see. We're also going to FINALLY get an appearance from Cassie Sandsmark next chapter which I'm super excited about. Will I introduce Diana next chapter too? Not sure. It's up for debate at this point.


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